Tuesday, the day of energy

After 40 years of working I hope most people have noticed that while Monday and Friday are generally the “getting in gear” days Tuesday is a day of productivity and energy.  Not that I’ve heard any research to that effect but even though Mondays have always been busy days for me, and productive, I find that by Tuesday I am in full swing, the week has been planned and I am go, go, go.  Therefore when something puts a crimp in the “planned week” I can be a little off kilter.  Not that it is a bad thing, but when one is a structured person it can be unsettling.

       Life can catch one like that as well, just as we think everything is going down the known path something will come along to throw everything out of whack.  Anything from political upheaval, to high winds that tear off your eavestrough and throw the planned budget out the window even as you call the insurance company.  Deductibles get you every time!  Even a minor hiccup can throw a body off “The Plan” and a simple statement may send someone sailing out of control.  Something like that happened to me the other day while I was doing a simple “planned” duty to assist a friend.  I was approached by a complete stranger who tossed out a statement to me that blew me away and I admit, I did not handle it as well as I could have.  While serving cake to masses how do you handle it when someone you don’t know tells you they have breast cancer?  I was thrown off balance and I’m only surprised that the cake didn’t land in someone’s lap.  The first thing out of my mouth was “I am not sure why XYZ told you to talk to me because I haven’t had breast cancer” . . . and then I thought to myself “why didn’t I first say “I’m so sorry to hear that”? ... except I was so thrown out of balance that I was confused.  A dozen thoughts at once screamed through my brain but afterwards I felt terrible about the way I handled the situation even though I immediately took her hand and said I would get the help she needed to support her.

       I have noticed that I do handle crisis situations poorly.  I never know what to say when someone has lost a loved one, when disaster strikes them, and then I am conscious of making it about me rather than them.  I know I am not alone in this conundrum and even at this moment I wonder why I didn’t remember any of the training I took only 3 short weeks ago called “next-of-kin” training. 

Hello, I think they sent the wrong person to the course!