Someone else’s timeline
I’ve been recovering from a small surgical procedure on my abdomen, which has made it uncomfortable to do basic things like roll over in bed or bend over to tie my shoes. It’s funny to me how we generally have no sense of how our bodies work at everyday routine actions until something is off and then we realize how much is going on at any given time.
While this recovery process is totally normal, I’ve been finding myself quite frustrated and annoyed. Why is there any pain at all?! What’s with this discomfort?! When will this be over??!?!?!!
Contrary to what most people would have done, I didn’t do any up-front research or prep on what the recovery would be so I naively assumed it would be easy-peesy, mac-n-cheesy.
HA. Joke’s on me.
While of course there are estimates for length of recovery and the experience of it, it takes what it takes. And no one is worse with someone else’s timelines than I am. I want things done on MY timeline!
But isn’t that always the case? We create expectations – stories, really – about how things are going to go…or how they’re supposed to go…without allowing for simply how something actually goes. And then we get upset when it doesn’t adhere to our story.
How much more pain do we incur when we get riled up thinking about why things are happening the way they are instead of simply accepting that reality?
This is a lesson I have not yet learned. As they say, bring on the pain…
