Thoughts on slowing down have created a pattern this week in between work and naps.
When I was a kid, if you went to the doctor for something like bronchitis, you would get an antibiotic and orders to take it easy. Plenty of rest, fluids and something nutritious were the most common orders.
Today, they call in a prescription for a Z Pack and some Prednisone and send you on your way. Maybe they think I’m old enough to know I should be resting and drinking lots of water but I’m not so sure. After all, prednisone, meant to help relieve inflammation, is a steroid that will wire you up so badly you wonder if you’ll ever sleep again.
It provides artificial energy that makes it hard to rest. A couple of nights this week, I went to bed so exhausted I could hardly hold a toothbrush. Yet, the moment my head hit the pillow, Prednisone Brain would say “hey, you wanna do some jumping jacks? Let’s clean the house! Maybe I’ll just lie here and vibrate for a while!”
Nope: Rest didn’t come easy at all even though that’s the one thing I desperately needed.
On Friday after work, the house was quiet and dark thanks to a bad storm and power outage. So Scout and I laid down for a little nap. I didn’t set an alarm and ended up sleeping about three hours. The only reason I woke up is that my phone kept buzzing. The rest of the world was going on about its own pace, texting and facebooking, emailing and calling while my body enjoyed a well deserved slumber.
I got up, fed the cat and went back to bed only to sleep through the night as though I hadn’t slept in weeks.
Glorious rest is so important to a body.
I awoke Saturday to the sound of generators all around. Still no power. Drats!
But I spent my morning enjoying the slowness. It was too dark yet to get up and do anything. With a well, there’s no running water when the power is out so I couldn’t clean or do anything useful. No television meant no noise in the house. A desire to preserve my cell phone battery left me alone with my thoughts.
Those thoughts wandered back a lot of years to when I was a child enduring power outages that, back then, might have lasted for hours or for days. I remember evenings sitting on the porch in good weather and gathered around lanterns in the poor weather months.
When I was real young, those were kerosense lanterns that eventually gave way to battery operated. Now we have some with rechargeable batteries and led lights that illuminate the room and even charge your phone.
As a kid, I remember snack foods and board games, grown up conversation and toys and books.
Life slowed down – if only for a little while. It was a license to break routine and to embrace a quieter side of life that our ancestors knew simply as the way it was.
Now, whole house generators make the transition so smooth some folks might need reminding they don’t have power. There’s no need to break up with our tv, air fryers, and Facebook because there’s a back up to insure no one is even inconvenienced.
A small generator here requires manual start and is gas operated. We don’t run it all the time but instead focus on just keeping food cold by running it a few hours at a time. I keep my devices charged, including a couple of portable chargers for my phone.
This isn’t Little House On The Prairie after all.
Yet, I rather enjoy being able to unplug, disconnect, disengage and live the slower life. Of course, it was well timed given that I really do need the rest this weekend.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m crazy but when your body is sick, it’s telling you to slow down. When the power goes out, it’s an opportunity to relax and enjoy something outside the machine of our routine.
Are we all so busy and important that we can’t have a break? Is it so important that it makes sense to keep propelling ourselves through the world going this way and that, determined to keep doing what we do?
Prednisone brain wants me to do jumping jacks. I think I’ll settle for a nap!
