How do you deal with life now that you are an atheist? (With a little of my life)

[Thumpalumpacus]

I live with constant pain courtesy of a bone disease in my hip. I feel it in my sleep, even. Still I get through each day, harboring my thoughts to myself, and I've learnt a lot in dealing with this. I don't use painkillers aside from the occasional naproxen.

I've learnt that physical ailments are in one sense controllable, in that I can tune the pain in or out, and that much depends on my mindset. The pain is worse when my mood is bad. I've learnt that if we dig deeper, we can find inner reserves we didn't know we have. Of course I already knew prayer was useless, but I've learnt that mindfulness is a powerful tool.

As an Air Force firefighter, I made my peace with death twenty-five years ago. I've been in a couple of spots that could easily have been fatal. I've resigned myself to dying, but you know what they sang -- "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." Giving up a death-grip on life, I find myself living more. Not worried about the "hereafter", I focus more on the now.

Make your peace with what you cannot control, or live a life of turmoil. It's pretty simple, so far as I see it.