The Suspicious Shadow

You come home tired from work, drop your keys in a bowl, and check your phone messages. As you mindlessly listen to a host of insistent telemarketers, you review your day. It couldn’t have been worse. You arrived late to work because of the huge Starbucks line. Then some idiot stepped on one of your brand new shoes. Your toe still hurts. Jane at work got the promotion you were supposed to get. She gloated about it all day. Bitch! To make matters worse, you had to go pick up lunch for everyone to “celebrate” Jane’s new position. Hurray! On the way out of Corner Bakery, you dropped one of the Cokes, its contents spilling all over your other shoe. Great! This mental review did not include the fight with your husband who said he’d leave the check for the elevator mechanic, but forgot.

Your mind was about to keep going—there was so much more, including your bosses’ reaction when he realized his food order had been messed up—when you hear your doctor’s voice on the phone. She’s asking you to come in. It’s regarding your recent physical. Your heart starts to race, and your mind begins playing the What If game. You feel all right and certain the physical didn’t turn up anything bad. But you’re not absolutely sure. The rest of the night you’re up imagining the worst about what the doctor might say, your miserable day, all but forgotten.

When you finally meet with the doctor, she tells you about a “suspicious shadow” on your mammogram. They’ll have to retake it. Everything that was so important—the lateness, the ruined shoes, Jane’s promotion, your bosses’ messed up order, your husband’s forgotten check—have vanished from your thoughts, registering no importance whatsoever. All you care about is having a normal mammogram, and living a long life.

You begin to re-evaluate your life. What have you really done with it? Why did you let all the little petty things get you down and ruin your day? When you really think about it, all those little events were meaningless. Your Life—that’s what’s important. The possibility of cancer, the removal of a breast, chemo, maybe even death, that’s what you’re thinking about now.

Does it take the possibility of an illness, or a probable death, to make you value your life? To make you stop worrying about the crazy, little, and stupid things?

Look at the big picture. Don’t lose sight of what’s really important. Regard everything as though it’s borrowed. Because it is! Don’t take it for granted. Don’t wait for a call from your doctor telling you they saw a “suspicious shadow.” Take what you have, who you are, and live the life you’re meant to live, free of worry, and stress-inducing thoughts. Don’t wait for a call, a diagnosis, or an accident, to open your eyes.

Open them wide Now!