"I'm Tired"

Source: Cade Martin, Public Domain

I worry about the how-to article's pontification and aridity. So in some recent posts, I've genre-bended: I've attempted to embed a psychological issue within a short-short story, for example, Unhinged and Should You Give Up on Finding Mr/Ms Right?

Here is today's offering. Its aim is to encourage you to look at your life.

It happened slowly. First, she needed a cup of coffee, not just mid-afternoon but mid-morning. Next, she found her voice more often sounding tired. Then, whereas she always was energized at the thought of her next work project, now it took all her energy to even get it done. Later, she even found it difficult to muster the energy to take a walk or even watch a movie on Netflix. All she wanted to do would be to water her houseplants, listen to sad music, and just stare.

"I'm facing the end," she thought. "All the nostrums about the 'golden years' are BS. I'm just waiting for The Big Diagnosis. At some point, we all get one. My turn's coming. You'd think that would make me want to make the most of the time I have left but I can't muster the motivation. I'm tired."

Her world got smaller and smaller. She had even lost the desire to call her son. But, more out of duty than pleasure, her son kept calling almost daily. Usually, the calls were brief and formulaic:

Hi, Ma, how ya doin' today?

Fine.

Do anything special today?

I read a nice article about Fred Rogers, you know, "Mr. Rogers, from TV.

Yeah, I remember watching that and feeling comforted.

But one day, the call couldn't remain perfunctory. "Mom, I've been out of work for two years and I can't afford to pay the rent any more."  She replied, "You can always come live with me."

And he did. Alas, her ever growing lassitude rubbed off on him and the two of them lived quietly symbiotic lives together. They watched TV, took little walks, cooked simple dinners, drank wine.

And that worked pretty well, a better life than many people have, until the inevitable terminal diagnosis. On her deathbed, he held her hand and asked her, "Is there anything you want to say?" She replied, "Thank you. I love you" and she closed her eyes for the last time.

The takeaway

Most real-life stories are remarkable only for their ordinariness. No dramatic turnaround, no last-minute epiphany.

How about you? Do you picture major changes ahead? If so, what?

Or, to consider the more common scenario, that any changes will be only fine-tuning, what, if anything do you want to do differently now? A year from now? 

Thinking further ahead is usually fruitless. As Winston Churchill said, "It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time."

Marty Nemko's bio is in Wikipedia. His new book, his 8th, is The Best of Marty Nemko.

from Psychology Today - Relationships http://ift.tt/1XqPJwI
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