Too Cool for School

Holistic Healing

Ever feel like there are a hundred roadblocks to your life?
I've had a lot of those lately.
My computer was broken, so I couldn't do lesson plans unless I stayed at the school and used my work computer. (A pea-shooter) My printer doesn't get the message that it's connected to my computer now that it's fixed, so I have to e-mail those lesson plans to my school comptuer to print them. I got sick this week, and wanted to go to the doctor. However, my doctor in Dallas won't take my PPO, so I had to ask someone for the number of a new doctor in my area. I found one. Then the insurance company had the wrong address for me, so I never got my health insurance card, so I had to call them and get a special number to use my insurance. The pharmacists scoffed at my little insurance number written on a piece of paper and said I'd have to pay out-of-pocket for the meds and then file a claim later. My apartment hasn't cut me a key to my mailbox yet, so I have to go and ask them to open up my mailbox for me to get the mail. And my nose is stopped up. I have to breathe through my mouth like Napoleon Dynmaite. This gives me chapped lips, but I can never find chapstick while at school. At least the nurse has like five sticks in her drawer.

This is not a complaint. You can see that in every case there is a way out, but it requires side-stepping what's in my way, taking a little extra time, and in most cases, asking for help. I don't like to ask for help. My anthem since August has been "Miss Independent" but everyday, something shows me that I am probably less independent now than I ever was before. Because I need people in my life. When the convenient way doesn't work, I need to look somebody in the eye and say, "I can't do this". Sometimes I don't like the answer they give me and I get sulky. Like today when my (new) doctor told me that I just need to take over-the-counter drugs to get better. She doesn't know my background of sinus infections for four months in a row! (Anyone from Skillman can vouch for this) Sometimes I don't letting anyone know that I need help. I'd like to think that my problems can be fixed without anybody's help. After all, I'm independent now. Sometimes I go down a path that I know I shouldn't because by taking that road, I can hide what is really wrong with me. Asking for help means laying your cards on the table in a vulnerable, revealing manner. It means that others could see that I'm not always what I pretend to be at school or in church.

You can see where this is going. I think analogies are my way of dealing with tough things, because I can see my spiritual self in a tangible way.
Also, I believe that the spirit and the body and the mind are inextricably connected. When my body is sick, amazingly, my spirit is usually sick too. Not that God is punishing me or anything like that, but when you're down, you're down all over.

Last year when I was at my most sick, my parents were out of town. I stayed with my cousin Billie Faye because and she gave me a copy of her Natural Remedies book. She (being the giving person that she is) also stocked me up on vitamins that I'd never heard of, like acidopholus and flaxseed oil? These vitamins, along with antibiotics, were the end of my four-month-long battle with respiratory crud. I was finally free!

Now that I have a sinus infection, I knew that it takes more than medication to get over a cold. Medication usually comes in and kills something off. Plus, it always seems like medications have these nasty side-effects that are worse than the actual illness.
Example:
"Medicine should stop congestion and runny nose. Side effects include vomiting, diarhea, and wetting your pants at inconventient moments."

But the vitamins give your body some strength to rebuild. I'm going to take those horse-pill sized vitamins, by golly! And we'll see what happens. At the same time, I'm started a more rigorous bible study program with Elasha, a friend from church. I want to be well all over. I'll let you know how it goes.

posted by Heather at 11/10/2005