What I Had for Lunch? Amoxicillin

Regular readers might remember the fun I had last fall.

Well, the problem has come back, but I’m hoping I’ve caught it early enough so I can avoid surgery this time. What’s making it worse is that I’m panicking because I Just Don’t Have Time For This. I’m taking a class where you can’t miss even a day without getting way behind, a busy job that’s busier than usual, and writing deadlines looming.

This might seem like an absurd thing to be thinking about amidst a (hopefully minor) medical crisis, but I’m thinking about the beauty of a life where you set your own schedule.

I realize that even if you have a job you love (like I do), you might have enough independence and good will accumulated that you could take personal time off without fear of it all falling apart. But I admit I’ve got a bias for a freelance lifestyle, because there’s no worry about any of that. If something comes up that you need to deal with, you deal with it, then you get back to work. You’re the boss, you make the rules.

I know it’s because I’m in grad school and juggling around that, and my life has never been one you’d put in the same sentence with words like “predictable” or “mellow,” but it strikes me that I’ve gotten too busy (again) and have forgotten how to take good care of myself.

I’m hoping this is just a blip, a little health detour, and that it won’t mean weeks of recovery like last time. But it does get me thinking about how, because of my schedule, I’ve let good habits go, mostly around taking care of my physical self. And the problem with our bodies is that if we ignore or abuse them enough, they bite back.

The good thing about this – once an optimist, always an optimist! – is that it’s a great reminder (okay, a smack on the head) that I need a body overhaul. I’m just hoping the overhaul doesn’t involve scalpels. I’ll keep you posted.