Joyful Transformation

Tuesday morning when I got in the shower I felt a stinging sensation on my side right above where my bra normally comes to. I immediately panicked thinking how long it had been since I had been to the Doctor, but then realized this was a skin irritation not something deeper and more serious. The shirt I had worn to walk that morning had some kind of thread in the seams that caused a major rash on this tender part of my body when it was coupled with the friction of swinging arms. The rash became red and raised and basically bugged the stew out of me all day long. The sleeve on my dress hit it just right to keep it irritated all day.

This morning I wore a really ugly sports bra that came up over that area and wore a t-shirt just to avoid any possible crazy threads. Today there was no new irritation and the rash from yesterday is almost gone. It is still a little tender to the touch but how often do you touch that area?

Yesterday my entire day was spent in the shadow of this pain. It was not a major cut or injury, but a small irritation that was caused by friction. Yet it stayed in the forefront of my mind and affected my mood and my attitude. I could have justified not walking this morning in a valid attempt to give it time to heal. However, I knew that I needed to walk and Terri was counting on me to be there, so I came up with a solution that would protect the area from further irritation.

That’s the thing in life ain’t it? It is not the big things that keep us in a funk but the daily irritations brought on by friction. We can choose to avoid any activities that might cause such friction or we can protect our sensitive areas and proceed. There is a danger that if proceed with the same activities without changing anything the irritation can be made a serious sore spot and take outside intervention to heal. I made a conscience effort to not tell anyone about my problem except my daughter, my daughter-in-law and my husband. I wanted to whine to my Mom & Dad last night, but it hardly seemed appropriate when my mother is laying there with staples in her back. I fought the urge to whine to Terri this morning, but I wanted to. If I would be as restrained in verbalizing my displeasure with some of the non-physical irritations in my life I would be much better off. So many times if we will just let it go…it will go away. I know- easier said than done, but I am going to work on it!