Thursday, March 18, 2010

Nutty Dread



Sometimes the dreaded storms that loom ahead of us turn out shockingly swift and painless.
Like the bandaid my four year-old "Winnie" refused to take off for a week because she feared the pain of removal.

Anticipated pain is like that.
Worrying over a shot that you can't even feel.

Or like me, the ninny, fainting cold
when the needle grazed my arm.
I woke up to hovering nurses.
"Is the surgery over?"
"No, Mrs. Pray, we haven't even got the IV in yet."


Lessons learned:

1: Worrying blows things out of proportion,

Turns a needle into a cactus.
A dentist's drill into a jackhammer.
A pile of laundry into a mother-eating monster.

2: Don't watch them do the needle thing.

3: I am a coward.


And then sometimes, the things we dread really are kind of dreadful, but they have to be done.
Like doing dishes and laundry,
practicing an instrument or working on revisions.
But once those tasks are faced, what rewards await!

Improving as an artist, a musician, a writer is all worth the labor, isn't it?

Maybe not the laundry/dishes/cleaning cycle, which is highly over-rated.


What do you dread?

6 comments:

Jan Morrison said...

yep - the unexamined monster under the bed that turns out to be dust bunnies. Needles don't bother me but driving on icy roads makes me crazed...

Julia Kelly said...

Other then Laundry? I dread suceeding as much I dread failing-

Corey Schwartz said...

Great post, Faith! And I'm so sorry I never wrote to thank you for the package you sent! (Just been totally overwhelmed lately) But it was LOVELY!!!

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

I NEVER watch them do the needle thing, and I jabber to them about how squeemish I am so they will, hopefully, be careful.
Sometimes the cleaning cycle can spit out great ideas that were lurking in the gloom, though. ;)

Elana Johnson said...

Dude, I am a born worrier. I just can't help it. I try to shrug things off, and it works for a while. And then I'm back to my "what-if-ing."

Faith Pray said...

Thanks Corey!

Julia, Jan, Elana, I am sheepishly glad to know that I am not the only one.

Tricia, nice way to look at it. Maybe I can find my next story cleaning...

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