Dealing with Sick and Tired

How do you react when a member of your family gets sick with a cold or the flu? Do you serve them with compassion? I don’t (always) and—what’s worse—sometimes I don’t feel guilty about my lack of sympathy. Ouch!  Admitting that shows me how selfish I’m being.

Obviously, I was never meant to be a nurse or home-care provider.  After as little as a day or two of coddling and caring, my mercy well dries up, I lose my patience, and I hurry them back to health. After all, my schedule doesn’t allow me to slow down just because a member of my family did. All you other type-A personalities out there, please tell me I’m not alone.

I’m not entirely void of understanding. I get that my children need me, I’m their mom. I still want my own mother’s arms to hold me when I don’t feel well.  But as eager as I am to nurse my children back to health—and that is a gross understatement—I am even less eager to do so with my husband. Double ouch! Again, as my words hit this page I realize how selfish that makes me.

I suppose before the next cold and flu season hits, I ought to work on this.