Down this weekend — hard down.
The warning signs did everything to deliver a slap in the face but — as happens all too often — ignored them until the body crashed Friday night. Out of commission for 48 hours.
The diagnosis: Exhaustion, brought on by a combination of stress, lack of sleep and simply trying to do too many things at once.
Been there before at too many times before. At 26, collapsed while covering the Illinois legislature and spent three days in the hospital. The pattern repeated itself more often than it should over the past 30-some years.
The doctors always say the same thing: “Take it easy. Slow down.”
Not geared to take it easy. Don’t really know how to slow down. Not in the DNA.
Harder to bounce back now. In younger days, an overnight hospital stay getting pumped full of nutrients took care of the problem. Now it takes longer. Doctors want to check for heart problems, clogged arteries and lots of other stuff.
Missed the Floyd County High School girls’ basketball team battling arch-rival Radford into a last -second tie that sent the Three Rivers District Tournament Title Game into overtime in Christiansburg. The Lady Buffs lost in OT but — as the regular season champs — believe they are still in the regional playoffs. Need to check on that later today.
Missed the first sunny, warmer weekend of the new year. Hard to enjoy nicer weather when you’re flat on your back.
Easing back into the fray today but still moving a little slower than normal.
As Simon and Garfunkel once sang:
Slow down, you move too fast.
You’ve got to make the morning last.
Easier said than done.
2 thoughts on “Crashing”
Having followed this blog for around 5 years now, if memory serves, and being an older fart than you, I feel entitled to make a comment here.
You can ignore your body, and it’s signs and live a shortened life, with poorer quality, or you can make some life choices that allow you to live a longer, better life. The choice is yours. For my own selfish interest, I hope you’re around for a lot longer.
Although we’ve never met, I kind of think of you as my younger, stupider brother 🙂
Hi five dude! I’ve known Doug for nearly 30 years. If you think his physical situation is bad now, you should have known him way back when. I’ve always considered him my slightly older (by 11 months), stupider brother. But to give the devil his due, he is losing weight and trying to improve his health. Though he stubbornly continues to ride his Harley, leaving me no choice but to think of him as “My friend Doug, the future organ donor.”
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