I've been reflecting on my attitude to breaking my ankle/leg, especially thinking of the way I handle adversity.
I always suspected that I didn't have the "Dunkirk spirit"; the ability to be cheerful when the chips were down. I suspected, as I am generally bad tempered and irritable at the minor niggles, that I would be grumpy and ungracious in the face of major problems.
The first day I broke my ankle, once it was clear that I'd need surgery, & that would be the following day, I had a mental flurry of things I needed to organise. Things to get from the hotel, flights and car rental and hotels to cancel. People to inform.
Information to gather on what was going to happen next. My adult organisational skills ticking busily over.
But, my childhood training came to the fore as far as attitude. It wasn't a voluntary thing, I said please-and-thank-you to the nurses, the porters, the doctors, the cleaners. I tried to be nice and pleasant, to make myself liked and 'no trouble'.
I hate asking for things normally but now I have to, and perhaps it's this that makes me revert to a childlike state of social skills? Eagerness to please authority and be considered in the normal scheme of things - if I'm nice then can the nurses find me something to read, a phone charger?
And patience. Especially in the hospitals and clinics, when you can see the organisation and prioritisation going on around you. Yes, waiting for hours is a pain, especially because of bureaucracy, but it gets done, thoroughly. And impatience only hurts me.
So I am pleasantly surprised to discover resources in myself that have helped me cope with the injury so far. 4 more weeks off my feet though!
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