Musings of a Medical Zebra

Archive for June, 2009

The extension cord

Last night my husband used a very long extension cord to plug in our hot tub heater. It reminded me of an incident that occurred in Lincoln. At one point, our neighbor Doug allowed two of his male friends to move in with him. One of the guys — whom I recognized as living with Doug, but had not met — approached me as I was preparing to walk inside our house. He said, “Can we borrow an extension cord.” Before I answered his question, I asked how long the extension cord needed to be.  He said, “One long enough to reach from your house to ours because Doug forgot to pay the electricity bill.” I almost laughed out loud. I told him that we didn’t one long enough, and quickly closed the door behind me.

Time to start listening

Today it occurred to me that I push myself way too much. It’s imperative that I slow down and start saying no — no to myself and no to others.

When asked if I can do something, I generally say yes. When there is something that I feel needs to be done around the house, again, I generally say yes. And when there is something I want to do, I also say yes.  I expect my body to perform as it did several years ago — to do the types of things someone my age “should” be able to do. Even though fatigue and pain serve as constant reminders to pace myself or avoid a particular task entirely, I often do not listen.

I realize now that I have to stop being so stubborn and start listening to my body. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. It won’t be easy, but most things worth doing aren’t easy.