FEAR: it's everywhere... on television (Sinkholes! Politics!), in dreams (nightmares about being lost) and on the telephone (Doctor: "Your bloodwork shows that your cholesterol has gone up, putting you at risk for a heart attack or stroke. I'm putting you on medication...").
She tells me it's not drastically elevated, but "risk analysis" puts me in the "8% most likely" category over the next 10 years... or something like that. And I tell her that years ago, when she put me on a statin, I experienced joint pain and memory loss, so I quit taking them and the symptoms disappeared.
Back then, the "high cholesterol ceiling" used to be 299, but then it changed and went down to 199, putting me (and many other people) within the "acceptable" range and, as a result, on cholesterol-lowering medications. I thought I had dodged that bullet, but the bullet came back.
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| Abandoned house - TJB 2017 |
I hate fear. Fear weakens us, causing us to shrink away, stay hidden, hold back, become trapped. I think fear keeps us from being our best selves.
One thing I can do to overcome fear is to be proactive and do things that make me feel like I have at least some control over my life.
Change my diet. Meditate. Take short walks. It's time to stop procrastinating about everything with fear attached to it.
Finish writing that novel. Get the tattoo. Go somewhere I've never been before and stop worrying about getting lost. Eradicate all clutter and keep only what brings me joy. I've been thinking it and saying it for a long time. It's now or never.
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| Lighthouse, Nassau, Bahamas - TJB 2011 |
There is no room for fear this year or any of my remaining years. It starts today.
And she lived happily ever after...
