Falling Flat on My Face

Ten days ago I fell flat on my face, landing on cement. As a result, I was in the hospital for three days, had a brain hemorrhage/concussion and a broken orbital bone in my left eye. The recovery has been challenging because I’m not supposed to strain my eyes or stress my brain by thinking too hard. So, no reading, no looking at my phone, computer or TV. Thank goodness for audiobooks and podcasts.

I will have surgery on Thursday, Sept. 2 (today!) at 3:30 p.m. to repair my eye. In three weeks I should be back to "normal" if there are no complications. So far the hardest things for me have been 1) not being able to walk my dogs 2) having to postpone getting my manuscript to my editor (wow - that sounds so cool to say!) and 3) headaches, dizziness, double vision.

Resting can be lonely and boring, but thanks to friends on social media, the encouragement has kept me from going nuts. I am sooooooooo fortunate and blessed to have caring, loving friends out there messaging me.

Falling flat on my face has forced hours of lying around thinking. I’m thankful it wasn’t worse. It reminds me we NEVER know what is going to happen next. A normal day can end up in some sort of tragedy. But if we worry about stuff that hasn’t happened yet, we waste the moment we’re in.

An Eckhart Tolle quote says:

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”

It’s true. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. I’ve been thinking about the U.S. military men who lost their lives last week, all the innocent Afghans who lost their lives or homes or family members. And the thousands in Haiti who perished in the earthquake 2 weeks ago, their entire city destroyed - it seems to have fallen out of the headline news. And here in the states, so many devastating fires on the West Coast that are burning down homes and killing wildlife, the hurricane that has left millions without power in Louisiana and tornadoes on the East Coast.

So I don’t have a helluva lot to complain about. I am safe in my house with excellent doctors looking after me and all my basic needs are met. My “now” in life is quiet. If I feel stressed or frustrated, I have to bring myself back to a place of gratitude and acceptance.

Crying is not good for my eye right now, so I’ve learned to cry internally when I get sad and miss Keven (he’d take good care of me if he was here).

My dogs miss being walked, but love having so much snuggle time with me - sometimes it’s the small things in life that get you through the day.

Thanks for reading!