“Suck It Up, Buttercup!”
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” – William James
I apologize for my absence, this is the first taste of bourbon I have had in almost a week, and therefore my first real opportunity to do some drinking and thinking. The family got hit, in one form or another, with whatever plethora of bugs is floating around now. I had the worst of it over the past weekend, and am finally feeling back to whatever level of normal I was before I got unwell. I half-thought of imbibing earlier, thinking the good, healing spirits that swim within my whiskey supply would somehow decimate the worst virus or bacteria. Speaking of my whiskey supply, I recently added a bottle of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey to my stock, so I felt obliged to give it a try tonight. It’s some good juice, and tastes far stronger than the 94 proof it’s bottled at. A thought did occur to me as I was practically bed bound for most of the day Saturday. At no point in my malady did I ever consider it the right time to shovel myself into the family vehicle and drive to the emergency department for someone to save my life. Now, as many of you may or may not know, I am an emergency medicine nurse, and have been for over a decade. So, when I think true emergency, I feel that some part of my body had better been traumatically ripped from its origin and lie quivering in front of me, for me to warrant an ED visit. Or, if one of my kids are hurt, and even then it’s a well thought-out debate between my wife and I. The worst is that I actually called in sick on Saturday, but went back into work on Sunday, still not 100% but feeling good enough and guilty to not let the rest of my co-workers possibly work short-handed. But, as I sat there, listening to some of the complaints of some “sick people” I had to bite my tongue. Now, I have long voiced my opinion that I feel society has fostered a “softening” of many people. This, is by no means, a blanket generalization of all people, as I do know many people who would rather cough up an actual lung than go to the ED for help. Also, this is not a dissertation on this new generation and their lack of testicular fortitude or ambition. I feel as if it is more of a slow degradation of character and drive among many people today, of all ages, rather than Gen X, Y or whatever the hell it is now. You see, in my opinion, many people are less interested in working for something than they are waiting for a handout. Blame it on the government, the internet or whatever you choose, but we have become so accustomed to everything happening instantly or with so little effort, that many have lost the will or determination to do for themselves, or have to wait for anything. Life is not always easy, and if you pulled your face from reality television for more than the time it takes to tweet of post a selfie you would see that. I am kind of all over the place with this one, but the point is this – Just because you really want it to happen, or want it right now, doesn’t mean it will happen at all. And, if it doesn’t, don’t start your crying and complaining… Just suck it up… Oh, and you’re not dying, you just have a cold… Stop Googling your symptoms…