Not Fatal

Photo by pina messina on Unsplash

I've been on a cocktail of drugs since my heart surgery some 3½ years ago. I've followed a routine of what and when to take them. Recently, when I was picking up my latest prescription at our local pharmacy, the pharmacist invited me into her little cubby-hole for an annual review and, after querying what I took and when, suggested that I alter this routine, to compensate for some potential stomach problems. No suggestion that I was doing anything wrong, just a check-in and some up-to-date advice.

Previously, I took 3 of my drugs with my morning cuppa, as soon as I got up, and 1 as I went to bed. The key changes she suggested were; take all 4 of them at the same time, and take them with food.

No problem, I thought.

But it turns out that in adapting to this new routine, I keep forgetting to take my drugs - in some cases missing a whole day's dose until the following day! It's as if the trigger has been adjusted and I keep missing the shot.

But I'm fine. As long as I take them as soon as I can after remembering, there are no adverse effects. My heart keeps pumping and life goes on.

The challenge has been in adapting to this change in my routine. It didn't happen immediately. I'm still having to remember to take my drugs in one go, with breakfast, and if not then, with food when I do take them. But I'm slowly embracing the change. I've learned a new way and I am adopting new behaviours. Nobody died.

One often hears the adage that everyone likes the idea of change, but nobody wants to change. But it can be done, with a clear rationale, patience and repetitive practice, until it's embedded.

Change. It's inevitable. It's OK. And it won't kill ya!

Unsaid

Here's a few of the undeveloped blogs that are currently languishing in the depths of my Evernote 'Blog Ideas' folder. Anything take your fancy? Please comment.

Photo under Creative Commons CCO 1.0

"Who's Lurking Under Your Bridge?" - something about trolls

"Why I'll Never be Eric Morecombe or Sean Connery" - something about confidence and voice

"Up Periscope!" - you could write this one yourself

"Motives and Madness" - Why show up? And what would happen if I didn't?

"Smiling Assassins" - a colleague's experience of being shafted behind their back

"Stranger Danger" - something about lessons from Netflix's 'Stranger Things'

"Ready for Redundancy" - preparedness for an increasingly likely scenario

"Who would want to listen to me?" - Imposter syndrome, social media & blogging

"Can't (Don't) Know it All" - and that's OK

"Intent versus Impact" - something about self awareness, assumptions, empathy

"The Universe & Me" - spirituality or philosophy?

"Unsaid" - something about blogs I may never work up and publish.

Oh, wait...

Seeing the Bigger Picture

I've just come back from a short holiday visiting friends in the South of France, an hour North of Toulouse. They have a lovely old French farmhouse with an acre of land on the edge of a tiny village in the Occitanie region (https://about-france.com/regions/midi-pyrenees.htm). Consequently, the nights are dark and the stars are gloriously bright.

My pal was keen to share his new star-gazing equipment, a computer controlled, 8-inch reflecting telescope, a thing of beauty in itself. One night we lugged it out onto the edge of his patio area and we settled in for an evening's star and planet watching.

Photo by Usukhbayar Gankhuyag on Unsplash

It's been a long time since I've seen such dark skies and my eyes were instantly drawn upwards to view the beautiful Milky Way (the edge-on view of our own spiral galaxy) meandering across the void, interspersed with hundreds and thousands of individual stars and immediately recognisable planets (Mars, Saturn and Jupiter being the brightest and most prominent in the South).

As I gazed up in wonder (I never tire of the majesty of the night sky), my pal was struggling to get his telescope properly aligned, so that once we had selected any one object (Mars, for example), the computer would take over and follow it's progress. Unable to help, I continued to scan the heavens.

Ignoring the background muttering, fiddling with glasses, handsets and cables, and the increasing frustration of my pal, I saw a couple of meteors, some satellites, excellent (although not in detail) viewing of Mars, Saturn and Jupiter, various constellations and of course, the over-arching Milky Way.

My pal didn't.

With the best of intentions (to share closer views through his expensive equipment), he got lost in the tech and in so doing, missed the joy of just looking up and enjoying the big picture. Even when I reassured him that I was having a grand time doing just that, his frustration and some embarrassment, excluded him from the more natural and ancient act of just looking and wondering.

That said, we did manage to get some brief closer views of Mars and Saturn (the Rings!) through the telescope, but without the proper alignment and auto-tracking, they were just that, brief.

Sometimes, tech is not the answer, not the enabler you were hoping for. Sometimes you just have to #LookUp.