Stress
Itâs been a stressful few weeks here in Lake Woebegone. Iâve finally been semi-officially let in on the problem from three weeks ago at work, mostly because the situation was exacerbated by an incident that happened at work two weeks ago. While the incident has been resolved to everyoneâs satisfaction, the problem remains like the sword of Damocles; when the thread snaps I wonât be directly under the point of the blade, but I am in a position to get nicely splattered by the blood of the sacrificial lambs strategically positioned below.
To complicate things, I made a serious mistake at work last June that was only caught last week. I was saved only by the fact that most of the work that was screwed up was duplicated by other departments (although the âduplicationâ was a stretch in some cases) and by the fact that there was someone who should have caught my mistake five months and three weeks ago, but didnât. Since the other person is the one who could nail my hide to the wall, and since the only way they could nail my hide is by nailing their own onto the shed next to mine, it was more convenient to simply pretend that everything was in order. I didnât even get my knuckles rapped with a ruler. That particular gaffe was resolved yesterday morning, which allowed me to resume concentrating my stress on personal items.
Iâve noticed a funny thing â I tend to get migraines after intense periods of stress are ended. Sure enough, last night added further evidence to this trend. I woke at about 2:00 a.m. with a headache, got up to take some Tylenol, and noticed immediately thereafter that my stomach was sour. I returned to bed hoping I hadnât caught a stomach flu. About half-an-hour after that the pain in my left temple flared to nova intensity, and I realized that Iâd have rather had a stomach bug.
I finally shook the last vestiges of the migraine late this afternoon, which brings me to a second thing Iâve noticed about migraines. There is a post-migraine âhighâ that almost makes a migraine worthwhile. Itâs a feeling of utter relief, that nothing can ever go wrong again. I should savor that, since I doubt Iâll be feeling that way again for a while.
Tomorrow I start the first of my many book wrapping shifts for the cat shelter. Iâm covering 9:00 am through 3:00 pm tomorrow. While I havenât signed up for it, the 6:00-10:00 shift only has one person working it, so I may return to help out in the evening.
Then I go to work Monday, wrap Monday night, and begin a five-workday vacation that has me overseeing the wrapping booth until Christmas Eve. With Christmas off, that gives me an eight day stretch of time away from work. Iâm looking forward to having nothing more pressing on my mind than asking people if they want the snow globe wrapping paper, or if theyâd prefer the famous quotations paper instead.
Six days until Dr. Fell.
That post-migraine high is an amazing thing, and quite a definite phenomenon. But yes, it only *almost* makes it worthwhile.
You should store up lots of treasure in Heaven/good karma/insert phrase of choice with all that wrapping work.
I can always tell the difference between someone who has a real migraine and someone who is a drug seeker. Makes me glad I have never had one.
~Keeping you in my thoughts~
You know how to get ahold of me if you want to chat.
Sue
Thought the uporic post migraine feeling was something I just imagined, guess not. Although I think I prefer to do without both for as long of a period as possible. Hope you have a wonderful week and wrap lots of pretty presents. Sending warm hugs and holiday cheer your way.