I forgot the water

My head hurts this afternoon. It hurts because I did two dumb things. Probably not what springs to mind.

The first dumb thing I did was to walk too far yesterday with too much weight in my backpack. It was only slightly uncomfortable while I was walking, but if I had been listening to my shoulders, I would have known they were tensing in a way that would make them (and my head) sore today.

The second dumb thing I did was to forget the water. I was late for my session with my trainer, and I ran into the gym without a water bottle. I worked out without water, then showered and set off for a coffee meeting. On the way, I intended to order water with my coffee (there are places in Europe where you always get a glass of water beside your cup of coffee) but I was distracted and ordered the latte without the extra glass of water.

I could say I have a headache, as if it just arrived. But this one is more like a headache I ordered in. It's a direct result of letting myself be just a little uncomfortable for just a little too long.

There are many places in our lives where we admire qualities like being focused on the task at hand instead of personal comfort. I wonder how many of them require that we be just as dumb as I have been today. My head does not ache because I am heroically hard-working. It aches because I ignored signals and made dumb choices.

I going to go pour myself (another) large glass of water.

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