Love & Other Indoor Sports
I made a mindful, rational decision last week. As a result, I want a ticker-tape parade, a cookie, a medal and a chest to pin it on. Please and thank you.
Here’s what happened: I decided to have a litany of medical tests based on minor symptoms and major anxiety. I’ve made no secret of my health-related paranoia, in part to let other whacktarts such as myself know that you are not alone.
After a lot of soul-searching, fretting, research and talking to friends and family, I decided to make a conscientious effort to actually fix the problem through medically supervised lifestyle adjustment and stress management.
This is a big decision for me. I’ve said it before: I’m a worrier. I don’t imagine a doctor tells many patients, “I wish you were less vigilant about your health,” but mine has said those exact words to me. So when I went to (another) doctor and said, “I’ve changed my mind. I want to work to fix the problem and manage this situation, and I want you to help me do it,” it felt like a turning point for me. In fact, in the several days since I made the choice to accept that these problems are almost certainly something I can solve and are not being caused by some alien parasite that will send me to an early grave, I’ve actually found myself feeling better physically.