Thinking back, I just told a group of friends last week a flashback from childhood. Remember kids used to say stuff like “When God was giving everybody a brain, I guess He forgot to give you one”? Poking fun at myself, I said, “When God was giving out health, He forgot to give me some.” And, from yesterday in the midst of feeling quite low, here we go:
I am SO TIRED of holding myself together all the time. I’ve had it!
See in the above photo how this bitter Michigan winter has viciously cracked open the skin in the middle of my left thumb? (Yes, last winter I already posted about this continuous persistent problem, but reminders never hurt.) I feel so incredibly frustrated, I lack the right words to sufficiently describe the Friday foul mood of mine:
Fed up? Worn out? Reached her breaking point?
My cracked thumb is damaged right in the area that makes doing EVERYTHING enormously more DIFFICULT and EXCRUCIATING. This miserable challenge catapulted my brain into recalling a slew of thumb-induced daily difficulties I face, including:
Pressing buttons on a phone
Typing on my laptop
Squeezing my tube of toothpaste to get some out
Putting earrings in my ears, when the end of my earring mercilessly jabs deep into the injured appendage
Popping out from the package my little overnight oral discs (that go on my gums and relieve my chronic dry mouth)
Operating my TV remote
Buttoning the top of my jeans or coats
Fastening my belt around my waist
Need I go on? Never mind the fact that on top of the beyond horrible thumb issue, every single day I deal with –
Constantly putting preservative-free eyedrops in my chronic dry eyes
Using products like dry-mouth mouthwash and special white nighttime paste for my chronic dry mouth to prevent cavities
Extremely sensitive skin that requires thick creamy lotion, which I despise more often than not because it makes your hands too slippery to do anything
Employing caution while moving around for fear of worsening my bad knees
Trying not to trip because drop foot affecting my weakened right foot will cause my right ankle suffering from Avascular Necrosis to roll
Oh yeah, and I try not to fall down despite no balance on my brain stem. Goodness gracious!
As I write these truthful-to-me-now words, I simultaneously rack my brain for a way to turn this unpleasant time into a productive lesson to share. God knew that armed with His strength, I’d be able to handle and overcome the countless lifelong health challenges sent my way. This is not a message to evoke sympathy. I do ask you, however, to exercise this oldie but goodie cliché:
Be nice to everyone you meet in life because you never know all of the struggles they’re going through.
Geez, everyday life is H-A-R-D with a capital . . . everything.
penning UP for Folks 