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Autumn is here and I’m loving it. Born in October, I seem to come to life in the fall, as the weather cools and the laziness of summer gradually picks up speed as it coasts toward the hectic holiday season.
I’ve been spending more time outdoors lately, opting for brisk walks in the park, at the beach, or around my neighborhood instead of machine-time at the gym. It’s still exercise, but the experience is quite different. Instead of becoming one with the machine and distracting myself with iPod music, I feel much more human, alive, and tuned in to my surroundings, whether it’s squirrel-watching and people-watching in the park, the sound of the pounding surf and the smell of salt are at the beach, or houses, cars, dogs and cats in the neighborhood.
For all the problems (and there are many) facing our nation, our economy, our planet, there are also many small pleasures around us every day to be thankful for.
I’ve always wanted to try alternative healing and finally had a reason do to so. It all started last month when I caught a cold with a slight cough on the 4th of July. It seemed like an ordinary cold that was running its course nicely by the end of the next week, but then worsened into chest congestion and a stuffy nose that wouldn’t go away. Week three of my misery, I finally went to the doctor, who diagnosed a sinus infection and gave me the standard antibiotics and decongestants to take for it. I took the antibiotics, my nose seemed to be less congested, and all was going well until I broke out in big, red, itchy spots about a week into the antibiotic treatment. Total misery! The doctor’s remedy was, you guessed it, yet another drug prescription to offset the effects of the first one. This, I decided was the perfect opportunity to try a different approach, one focused more on the whole person, rather than treatment of symptoms. I asked around and got a glowing recommendation for a local lady who is an acupuncturist/natural healer. I arrived at my appointment quite excited to start on this new venture. Unlike the usual 10-minutes with a conventional doctor, my first treatment session lasted well over an hour and consisted of much in-depth personal discussion about my health history. I told her about my apparent low immunity to colds this last year, my allergies, my normal diet. She then performed acupuncture, which truly did not hurt at all, massaged by head and sinuses, and did a relaxation exercise. Her diagnosis: I needed to rid my body of toxins and let go of obsessive over-thinking as well. I went home with a bag full of supplements and instructions to stop using antihistamines for allergy, to avoid sugar, white bread, and white rice and to eat lots of greens. I willingly followed the program for nearly a week. Then, a very slight, barely noticeable skin rash that started shortly after beginning my supplement program began to spread and started to really itch. It was obvious to me that I was having an allergic reaction to one of the supplements, perhaps because my system was still hyper-sensitive after reacting to the antibiotics. I emailed my practitioner with my concerns and asked if I might need to drop one of the supplements. Instead, however, I was told to take mega doses of Vitamin C and to be sure I wasn’t inadvertently eating any sugar. You see, in this particular world view, there is no such thing as an allergy. My body was simply ridding itself of “toxins.” After a day or so of obsessive over-thinking, I made the decision to drop two supplements out of my regimen and see if the rash improves. I suspect it will. So does this end my experiment with alternative medicine? Perhaps not. I haven’t yet decided whether to return for a follow-up session, but am leaning toward the negative. On the other hand, I plan to continue on a couple of the supplements she recommended, as well as the diet. I’m also pursuing some herbal alternatives to antihistamines for my allergies, which show some promise, as well as some herbs to improve immunity. We’ll see if I get fewer colds next year!
I just finished an interesting book called Vital Friends by Tom Rath. Rath was associated with the Gallup organization, as well as other major research firms and specializes in studying the impact of friendship on peoples’ lives. While the book discusses many types of friendships, it focuses a great deal of the workplace, and how having a best friend at work can make a huge difference in an employee’s productivity, engagement, and job satisfaction. This got my attention. One of the things I missed most when I retired was the daily interaction with my co-workers, even though I didn’t actually have one “best friend” and the work environment was becoming far less conducive to employee socializing. Looking back, I’ve always had a best friend or a few very close friends almost everywhere I worked, and when I didn’t, my stay was short. Rath validates what I’ve always felt: it’s the people you work with who make the job bearable – or unbearable. Filling that friendship void when you don’t have co-workers anymore takes effort. I meet with my former co-workers for lunch periodically. It’s always great to see them, but it’s just not the same as working with them every day. There is something about sharing the same goals, problems, and daily frustrations that makes co-workers close. I’ve met new people through my volunteer work, but don’t see them often enough for that “co-worker bond” to form quite as easily. In time, though, I think it will happen. More on this subject in a future post. . . .
Welcome to Grasshopper’s Journey. I’ve been posting for about a year on Blogspot (http://grasshopperbarb.blogspot.com), but decided that MyBoomerPlace is a more fitting home for my ramblings about life from the perspective of a fifty-something retiree. In Grasshopper’s Journey I blog about my search for a “new normal” after retiring early from a comfortable, but stifling, corporate job. I hope to meet other young(ish) retirees on MyBoomerPlace, as well as folks who are still juggling their work and personal lives, and exchange stories with them. I’m looking forward to this new experience.
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