Friday:
I can’t help think of Meagan B when I write this: “Be your own advocate.” That’s what Friday’s truth was. Actually, in many ways it was my truth for the entire week, on both personal and professional levels. Sometimes no one else is there to look out for you, to ask the right questions. Sometimes it’s just YOU, whether you are prepping to go in for an MRI, or figuring out how to ask ask for more support on a curriculum project.
Saturday:
Take nothing for granted. Some things sneak up on you. Or, you knew they were there the whole time but they were easy to ingnore because they were so silent. These things — your motorcycle helmet, that pair of shoes you bought last summer, the saved yellowing letters from your grandmother, last year’s travel receipts, osteopenia — might not be vocal, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Some deserve more attention than others. Spend more time figuring out which those are, which ones could haunt you later if you don’t give them the proper sustained attention now.
I don’t have many (any?) regrets in life, but I’m starting to have one now: I regret not taking my health more seriously much, much earlier, when I knew I should have been. Just because you can’t feel it — decomposition, that is — doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. The damage is silent and it is cumulative. Much of it is preventable, but when we don’t feel it, it’s hard to remember that. Well, it is for me, anyway.
So, here we go.
