Ahh, perspective. Today I was reminded of the big picture as I was stuck dwelling in the little picture. You would think it was some huge revelation that came to me, as I work with adult cancer patients all day and have many conversations about life and death as part of my work. But instead, it was the simplest thing. I have a friend who is going through a similar illness to mine, and she is suffering so, so, so much worse than me. As I listen to her updates and hear her symptoms, it is a wonderful reminder to listen, validate, and pray for her suffering to end. It is also a wonderful reminder to look at my current frustrations with my illness and put things into perspective. My current dilemma is that I am in a wedding tomorrow and I have a barely functioning immune system. Not only did I have surgery recently so I won't be dancing, but I also had the joy of getting bedbud bites while at a hotel a few weeks back. This leaves my arms red, itchy, and scabby for the past 3 weeks. Luckily it is not my wedding tomorrow, and so people will not be watching my every move, but I have been stressed out about my appearance and capability about this event, which I want so desperately to fully enjoy! And all it took for me to really snap out of it, was a text from a friend, about her chronic illness woes to help me remember that life is bigger than having the perfect arms for a wedding. Its bigger than our bodies and our outward appearances, which fade each day as we grow older May that reality continue to sink into each of us as we live in a culture that says the opposite. I desire to keep the perspective and balanced outlook that I got a glimpse of today, all year round.
Hey! What's going on? Been pretty boring over here in Chicago. Ok I don't need to elaborate on what the hell is going on in the world. We are being bombarded with information - some accurate, a lot inaccurate - about this pandemic. It's very easy to become completely overwhelmed by it all. We've been forced, pretty damn quickly, to completely overhaul our way of life for the greater good. To reduce the strain on our healthcare system of the sick and dying. And us humans are generally bad with rapid, monumental change that we really don't have a lot of say in. Our little reptilian brains do what they're supposed to do (prime us for fight or flight or freeze) but our advanced "thinking" parts of our brain have to interject with all sorts of unhelpful thoughts, thereby sending some of us off the rails. Before we start, turn off the news. Seriously. In the days following 9-11 we found people who consumed more 24-hour news channel information were mor