As a kid there was a toy called Stretch Armstrong where he was this gel filled rubbery muscularly shaped bodied toy that you could stretch as far as you could pull him and he'd (supposedly) never break. You could tie his arms up and eventually he'd return to his normal size. The key selling point of Stretch was that he was super flexible. Our lives have to be like Stretch was...flexible.
I often go about my days with a plan in mind and how things are to flow. In a away, it keeps my anxiety down and it helped me look forward to special events. What I am learning is that its important to be flexible. For example: this past Saturday my nieces were going to spend the day with us. I was looking forward to playing the Wii with them and maybe doing some baking or having fun in the kitchen with them. Unfortunately, Saturday is when my grandmother ended up back in the hospital and we spent more of the day getting things figured out about getting her back and forth from the Urgent Care clinic to the hospital and getting her medical info correctly recorded that our time was limited and we didn't get to do what we wanted originally to do. Flexibility.
I am learning so often that if plans are made or made to early, Murphy's law says that something will throw a wrench in it all. If I let it bother me, I can't save the situation and try and make the best out of it. If I don't let it bother me, I can begin to see the good in the situation we are thrown into. So...it's flexibility.
Even at work we have to be flexible. I have learned that so often, a patient will not arrive at the time they say they will, people will forget to do what they say they will do, and someone is going to demand something that may need to take precedence over something you are currently doing. Flexibility. That's what it's all about. So...today I will work on being a more flexible person and I will not get frazzled about things beyond my control. (oh...there...I said the "c" word. That's really what it's all about, isn't it?)
I think it is about "control". You can still be flexible, but have control of your own life. Take care of yourself first, and the rest will fall in place. (I think some famous person might have said that.)
ReplyDeleteBut boy, do I have an example of flexibility for you. Yesterday was a big day for me. I had to get up very early, (7:30 AM), and go to see my allergy doctor for skin-testing. This will be the third try, after two other trips in to South Bend, and then had to be sent home for one reason or another. The problem is, it takes about 2-weeks just to prepare for this, so it’s getting very frustrating. Of course, my mind was racing the night before, and didn’t get to sleep until around 2:00 AM. I slept well for a few hours, but had a strange dream at 4:30 AM, and it shocked me awake again. I dreamt that I was in bed sleeping, when I felt a presence in the room with me. I said, ”Who is that? Who is here?” And as she came closer, I could see a very young face, and she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek like I was a kid again, and like she was kissing me goodnight. I remember my only comment was, “Mom!” My mother is almost 94 years old, and I thought that this could mean that she has passed and was telling me goodbye. The problem is that I didn’t have the time to call her, and the clock time where she is at was only 6:30, so I couldn’t call her until later. I didn’t know whether this dream was accurate or whether it meant absolutely nothing. Still, I had to assume, (I couldn’t say it), that I would find later that she had passed away. I was so anxious to call her, but could not until we returned home later on. Is this being flexible or what?
Okay, so everything was on go for the skin testing. They checked me and said that we could begin the testing. They then put the blood pressure cuff on me, and it came out 152/106. After several more tries, they said my blood pressure is too high and that testing today is impossible. They told me that I should have taken my B.P. medication before coming in. I told them my pressure is never this high, and they said it was the prednisone that was causing this, and I would have to go through the prep process once again. I knew that I was about to toss this whole procedure if I had to reschedule, so I asked them to try to find another way, that it was imperative to do this today. What they came up with, was for me to go home, take my B.P. medication, wait for 2 hours, checking my B.P. as it goes down, and call them at 1:30 PM. It had to be down by then, or the testing was off for now at least. Let’s cut to the finish; My B.P. did get down by 1:30, I went back to South Bend, and they did the test; so I am happy to be beyond this stage. So for me, this is an example of me being stretched to the limit. It took four trips to & from South Bend, (½ hour each way), just to get the test itself accomplished. When it was stretched to the end, I had to be honest and tell them to get creative and find a way. They found a way mainly because I was doing my best to work with them on all these tries. I was flexible for them, so they were flexible for me.
I forgot to mention one more thing, just to wrap up my previous comment. Mom is fine. I called her as soon as I got home from the morning appointment. It was about 11:00 AM, and she picked up the phone when I called. It took about 12 rings, and had me worried, but then she answered and is doing fine for a 93-year old.
ReplyDeleteSo what about that dream that seemed so real? Who was that woman. Maybe nothing and no-one.