Meditation, Pain, and the Power of Hiding

Sometimes the New Year doesn't always get off to a great start.

I thought I was kicking it off in style – and great form. I did the 4K run in Central Park at midnight. I was with friends, it was a barrel of fun, the weather was warm(ish), people were running by in costumes – Cruella DeVil and 2 dalmations passed me! – and I was starting off the New Year on the right foot, committed to a renewed physical fitness routine. NOT.

My sneakers were too old, and flat soled, which two days later landed me with an incapacitated back.

Two nights later, a computer disaster. It's a long story but the short version is that Toshiba lost a third of my files. The next day a burning, itching, fiery rash appeared — I had developed shingles! (TMI, I know, but it's brought on by acute stress said my doc, so you'd best know that).

Adding insult to injury, my shoulder was suddenly in searing pain that radiated down my arm for several minutes after sudden movement. This was apparently caused by sleeping on my side! I'm supposed to get a steroid shot in my shoulder. Sigh.

Unable to sit, stand, or sleep, the New Year was not shaping up auspiciously. I had to do something before this became the 10 plagues of Egypt or I was really in trouble.

And then my Hibe arribed (can't resist). I wrote about the Hibe in How To Be Exhausted in Style. But it was even better in person. A soft, squishy, practical personal traveling haven cave. It's like wearing an open-ended sleeping bag. I felt like a cross between a Benedictine monk and William "the Refrigerator" Perry. )

Inside my traveling cave, I could attach ice packs to my back with my truss (lord, I feel old just saying that word), apply Burt's Bees RES-Q comfrey salve to my rash (and scratch if I had to…I know! More TMI), all discreetly and all while carrying around my new Kindle in my pouch pocket and cell phone (in itps own pocket) so I could bemoan my miseries to sympathetic ears.

Then I thought, what in the Sam Hill is going on here?!

And I sat down to resume a practice I had been devoted to for the last few years – meditating – but had forgotten all about it in recent weeks. Safe in my Hibe, I closed my eyes, did my oxytocin breaths, and soon felt like I was floating on a cloud. From that distance, you can get some insight.

Mine came as a hybrid of Scarlet O'Hara and Dr. Suess: "I'll never go [insert appropriate noun here] again" crossed with "My troubles are going to have trouble with me" (from Dr. Suess's I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew). 

I reviewed:

Lesson 1:
Style is not just high heels, style is the right sneakers too. Whatever you're doing, the best thing you can do for yourself is make sure you have proper footwear. Otherwise you're letting yourself in for a world of pain.

Lesson 2:
Stress is not just a silly excuse. Stress is real and can cause a host of ailments. Work to tame it: Meditate, get massages, facials, exercise (safely, see Lesson 1), find your personal Hibe. Rest. (I even turned off Facebook because I decided I couldn't deal with that stress.)

Lesson 3:
You must seek help and then do what's prescribed. And sometimes a little sympathy is the Rx. Don't feel bad about it, but then don't get stuck in it (some people never get out of that phase). Get it, then get on with it.

Lesson 4:
Sometimes you have to take steps to right wrongs – caused by yourself or others.

Conclusion:
Like that Sex and the City episode where Charlotte's second wedding is a series of disasters – a host of "bad luck" simply portends a lot of good to come. I'm convinced of that. I'm just getting all the lousy stuff over with at the beginning of the year. Yay!

Plus, it was a good reminder to reincorporate good habits.

My first resolution, to address and adopt resolutions slowly is being enforced by Fate, but I still recommend it — as a choice. They have a better chance of staying with you.

So, how is your New Year shaping up so far?

Other stories on life lessons:
New Year's Resolution Ramp-Up
What I Learned at Boot Camp
Can You Wear Kindness on Your Sleeve?
Random Acts of Style Kindness
Kindness - One Day Is Not Enough
Love You With a Sense of Purpose