i woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat. one of those sore throats that makes it so painful to swallow. i tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but that became impossible. got up and stumbled into the kitchen to make the time-tested, sore throat fixer of warm water and salt combination. gargled a few times and was able to go back to sleep.
three hours later the sore throat was gone only to be replaced with constant sneezing. despite not feeling 100%, i decided to get myself out for a walk. it was colder out than it's been in a while; the flowers and trees are in full bloom throughout the city. it was too cold to walk in the park or on fifth, so i walked 5 miles on madison. at about 90th street, i saw 2 people walking in my direction. they were a couple of feet apart and the man was walking with an odd gait. it was only when they passed me that i realized why.
the woman was someone i went to high school with and the man was the man she married many years ago. not long after he was diagnosed with parkinson's disease at a young age. he's been incredibly outspoken on behalf changing laws for more promising research technics and raising money to help find a cure. so as they passed me and i recognized them, i understood why the man was walking unsteadily. i imagined what day-to-day life must be like and not having any real sense of it, i stopped complaining about my cold.
wwcd: when you have your basic health, the little sniffles mean nothing
your post makes it so clear that whether you complain or not is a choice - a state of mind. feeling ill is a condition, just like a debilitating disease is a condition. we can feel sorry for ourselves (a state of mind) and let that dominate our state of being, or we can interact in the world within our pain-free range of motion, making accommodation for our condition moment-by-moment. this includes taking care, like your gargling and sleeping! the man you passed was just out walking with his wife, just the way you were out walking on a cool windy day. often we don't appreciate "our basic health" until we get the sniffles and for that we can be grateful to our sniffle-condition!
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