Being (oh, so) human...

Plantar fasciitis? Oh, yay!! Plantar fasciitis! That’s fabulous! I LOVE plantar fasciitis! (Dancing on a rooftop in my mind’s eye!) Go, plantar fasciitis, go!!

Whoa! Let me back up...Thought I had a stress fracture in one foot, but even more worrying, a knot suddenly appeared in the middle of that same foot with considerable ankle pain.

WAITED 8 days for an ortho appointment.

A week to work myself into considerable anxiety, fear, and the certainty that it’s going to be ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease, and don’t ask me how I got there.) Hey, I have a fertile mind, a disposition toward anxiety, AND the last 15 months of unexpected - boom, boom, boom - physical challenges. (However, I did keep myself from googling ALS, wonderful new restraint on my part.)

X-rays, palpations, and no apparent “red flags,” sayeth the ortho practitioner. Doing somersaults in my mind as I listened! It’s plantar fasciitis!! (Hmmm, wondering when plantar fasciitis was last SO celebrated?)

Arriving home (with my new exercises), I was incredibly exhausted. Even my homemade, potent, cold brew coffee didn’t touch my exhaustion. Finally realized I’d been so filled with stress around this appointment that exhaustion was the natural outcome. Poof. Energy gone.

Noticing, not judging. Seeing a pattern of building anxiety with each new medical appointment, based on my recent history. (The “eeeek” factor.) How do I react after each appointment from the exhaustion of pent-up stress? Acknowledging and just being purely kind to myself afterward. Purely kind... (What a concept.)

Do I reserve being “purely kind” to myself only for post-medical appointments? I’m not very skilled at being “purely kind” to myself unless I have a searing reason for doing so. I’ve been well trained by our “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” culture. (Um, you too??) Ouch. You’d think reaching a certain age would provide all the wisdom one needs. NOT! At my age, I won’t be growing any taller, but I can still grow the kindness of my heart to encompass myself, rippling outward as well. Join me?

❤️Enjoy reading “This Being Human Thing?” Please consider sharing with others. Who couldn’t use more heart and humor?