At this time of year the watercooler and shopping mall conversations describe plans to go away somewhere warm and the latest flu virus hits homes faster than anything Apple could release in stores anytime soon. More often than not we continue on while throwing down pharmaceutical efforts to ease our pockets of cash and maybe or maybe not ease a few symptoms as well. But we soldier on as if to give in to illness is somehow seen as defeat. I'm reminded of an episode of Dharma and Greg where Dharma decides to run for the local council and pushes herself to extremes in trying to please every single minority group in the neighborhood. She pushes herself to the point of exhaustion trying to please everyone and as everyday passes she develops more and more health problems. She gets ugly red sores on her face, she has a limp, her hair begins to fall out and she loses a tooth along the way but she is compelled to see it through to the end. You don't need to be a script writer to determine the lesson learned in this episode however I wonder if we ever write a lesson learned in our own episode? This week I felt like Dharma with that little voice in my head saying I'll just get through this next period and then I will take a break... as I limped down the street with a numb right leg. I'm too busy to go to the Chiropractor because I'm too busy going to the dentist for more root canal treatments where I've had so many of them I'm almost ready for the home do it yourself kit. I have a feeling that this particularly 'soldering on' gene is more prevalent in women. The smarter male of the species with a mere sniffle takes a swan dive onto the couch with remote control in one hand and the sporting pages in the other. I blame the superwoman myth. If men want to be super they put on a pair of tights, fly out the window and call themselves a hero. Women just put on another load of washing. I declare this day a day of rest. As soon as the spin cycle finishes.
I did the soldiering on thing when the kids were small and there were mortgage payments etc, but thankfully I rarely got sick and most of my "sick" days were hayfever or back sprain related. These days it's just me, so when the headache hits hard, or my back is at the point where standing upright is impossible, I'll crawl back into bed and call in sick. Without the least twinge of consience that I might be letting someone down.
ReplyDeleteWe are our own worst enemies carrying Victorian guilt. Get the root canal, pour a stiff martini, watch a chick flick and tell the rest to cook their own damn dinner and do their own washing. There . .that was brave . .must go empty the washing machine and make dinner.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the guilt. The soldiering on. And when we are finally forced to stay in bed and recuperate, how many of us get up and still unpack the dishwasher and hang up a load of washing? All of us, right?
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