(A play on that old folk admonition, be careful what you wish for.)
In my every day life, I can be a bit of a spoiled brat. Getting really annoyed when things don’t go my way.
One habit of mine is to refuse to face the fact that a certain task takes three hands. Lots of tasks around the house, you simply can’t deal with two hands. You have to break it down. And interestingly, it ends up taking less time if I do face up to that reality. Instead of struggling with two hands to do a three-handed task.
No examples are coming to me right now but it’s a very pervasive thing, so I will write some examples when they come to me.
Later: OK, here’s a simple one. Like when I’m walking with a whole arm full of packages or other things that need to go into the house, or out of the house. And instead of setting them down so that I can properly open the door, I try to do all of that and end up dropping the packages, or taking forever to open the door, or not being able to open the door. And then I cuss for a bit. Basically wasting time and energy, and getting agitated in the process.
OK, so it would be careful what you complain about department…
A few months back, I lost much of the use of my right arm. It was some kind of shoulder injury. At first I was afraid it was a rotator cuff tear. But after experiencing it for a while and looking into it more, it seemed more likely to be something calcific tendinitis which is calcium deposits.
It was not only loss of mobility, but also extreme pain when I would try to move in certain ways. Unfortunately, the certain ways were very routine daily necessary things. Repetitive motions needed throughout the day.
For a while, I could barely pour my coffee. One day I wasn’t even sure I could sew! Pulling shirts on and off became extremely difficult and painful, as did (ugh) wiping my butt. Good grief!
Tasks such as hauling water with that arm became out of the question. Lifting anything overhead, forget about it. Unfortunately, the affected arm is/was my right arm!
Fortunately, over time, the “core class” that I do to build muscles in my back and shoulders and glutes, and restore more flexibility to the the connected muscles such as quads and hamstrings, seems to be helping. (The core class is online. At dailyom.com; class title “Pelvis Reset for Lower Back Pain.” You pay one time, and the recorded sessions are yours to keep using.)
I hope I never forget and get ungrateful again. Every time I pull on or take off a shirt, and I don’t experience a sudden eight or nine level of pain, I try to remember to say thank you!
Some tasks take three hands. It’s best to slow down and break them down. And now, I know what it’s like to have only one hand or arm to work with! “Be careful what you bish for,” I tell myself.
This also works on a societal level. like, there’s a lot we can point out that’s wrong. But there’s a lot that’s right and available to us. Like right now, I can go to the public library and check out a book and use a printer and all sorts of other things.
And, with my phone, I can send an email in seconds, anywhere in the world.
And, with my paper and pens, I can write a postal letter and drop it in the mail and it will very likely get to the recipient without a hitch.
We can’t take these things for granted. Gratitude is a great attitude, it’ll get us through the roughest times.