I'm putting on my counselor's hat for an "avatar friend" who's posted many things over the years that I've either appreciated or admired.
So lemme ask you this: If your car started acting this differently from usual, would you presume it would just fix itself with time? Nah. If it was your car,
you'd do something about it. You might start small and switch gasoline or try a fuel additive. Or maybe you'd spend the money up front and make an appt with someone you trust to check it out. But either way, you'd assume those symptoms have an underlying cause, and they're only going to get worse if you don't address it.
Whatever the reason behind how you've been feeling, it's evidently important enough for your future that your mind & body have given up their normal, easy roll through life to force it to your attention. And maybe even God is behind it. Maybe He wants your attention about something.
So ask yourself: was the hamster's death and the aftermath (what it meant to your family and the reality of how little you could actually do to fix it) just another disturbing thing that has happened to you lately? Or did it feel more like the
point of all those other things... the item on the list that's
underlined? (...and you've gotta know those flash floods in Texas have also been working on your thoughts at some level.)
Only you can explore your own symptoms. But it helps to explore with an experienced guide. You have to have the courage to talk, and without editing yourself. It's the only way to get down to the raw truth. That's the reason to make an appointment with a professional counselor, life coach, or experienced pastor--and to keep going back, even for months.
The symptoms may be coming from old stuff that never got resolved, and now years later it's festering and spreading. Maybe the symptoms are structural: the foundation that was adequate for building your career and starting a family, suddenly feels shakey, inadequate for the weight of being a responsible husband and father in a world that seems less predictable and more evil than you remember.
And always, for all of us, there's that question of purpose. Even when I'm doing everything right, to what end am I doing it? Am I just a bigger hamster, spinning the big wheel in a small space, except that my exit will be more mourned, more elaborate, and more expensive?
So if you aren't already, start with the basic smart things:
eat better (try cutting out anything that's processed), get more
sleep, and intentionally
exercise (even just walking regularly helps--especially if it also becomes quality time with someone important to you). Those won't
fix anything, but they will sharpen your mind and set you up to do whatever it takes to
actually fix things.
But eventually, ya gotta
talk. You've got to get with someone who will just listen, ask an occasional question, and who will
not offer more than 30-seconds of advice per hour! That time talking is for you to explore your own life and symptoms. It's not that others can't tell you what's wrong. A good counselor will know within the first 10 minutes! It's just that
until you see it for yourself, in context with your life, you can't begin to address it and change whatever it takes to fix it.
And personally, I'd include God as someone trustworthy to talk to--aloud, and for half-hours at a time. I mean, who knows you better--and
still loves you?
That's how divided we are, that we don't even see the same thing when we're watching the same thing.
lately and I know that plays a big part. We try to limit dyes, processed foods, gmo...but I’ve been tearing up some little debbies as of late.
I get it. 
