Apparently this is the coldest December in the UK since records began, and along with many other people I was bedridden with a really nasty virus! I had to think of ways to entertain myself when I was unable to move around, such as counting the dots in the ceiling. This was a bit of a culture shock especially since life seems to happen in a blur of non stop busyness. One day merges into the next, there’s the hectic work culture, fast food, and coffee shops on every street corner with the promise to satisfy our much needed energy fix. Being sick in bed made me feel like I was missing out on all the action. It was kind of similar to watching Beckett’s play ‘Waiting For Godot’- it’s slow moving, doesn’t make sense or have any deeper meaning.
I think if I knew I could get away with running around like a headless chicken I probably would, only to discover when was too late that there’s a price to pay in poor health. I heard on the news that work related stress costs the UK around 500 million pounds and 14 million working days every year. I know stress is bad, but I’ve always thought that some stress is necessary in order to get things done. For example, the other day I was late for an appointment. I was standing in a long queue at Tesco’s being served by a slow cashier, and the person in front of me couldn’t find the correct change. The last thing I wanted to do was think about effective ways to manage my stress. Instead I looked around for a shorter queue, and thought that I should have looked for the more efficient-looking cashier. Preferably the one with a talent badge. But the moaning just made me feel worse, because I really had no right to moan about something so trivial.
I think trivial moaning is a demotivator. For example, when the Israelites were being led out of slavery and oppression, it took them some 40 years of wandering in the desert to make an 11 day journey because they couldn’t stop whining and complaining about being stuck in the desert. An abundant stress-free life doesn’t mean an absence of adversity, it’s more about how we grow in the midst of it. No longer do I want to learn the hard way through stress & illness. So when I have deadlines, I try make extra sure that I don't jump out of my bed in the morning without spending quality time with God first. I don’t go to bed so late that I’m on the train so exhausted I begin imagining things. I stop myself from getting annoyed when the person next to me has his iPod leaking the not so dulcit tones of 80's electronica.
Some perspective is needed:
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36
Sometimes the little things help maintain perspective. Little random acts of kindness help give life to us and others, a smile on a long and tiresome train journey, a kind word in season, or help with a heavy suitcase.
