POISONOUS PERSPECTIVES

I get bee venom shots.  I have been since October 2013.  They are a gigantic pain in my rear end.  No, not because I get them in my rear end.  Rather, they have, up to this point, been a weekly thing, and beyond the huge inconvenience of having to leave right after school to get them, they come with a certain amount of risk -- not to mention a cost involved.  

You see, I am allergic to stinging insects.  Two to be exact.  A yellow-nosed hornet and some sort of wasp.  I have forgotten which one. 

Is that bad?  That I've forgotten?   I mean, you would think if a stinging insect could, perhaps, cause, oh I don't know, death, I would remember what it was, right?  

You don't know me very well, do you?

We have not been formally introduced.  Hi, my name is Megan, and I have difficulty remembering important stuff.  

Random stuff?  Not a problem!

So, yeah, these injections.  They cause my arm to swell and itch.  In fact, last night, I woke myself up a half a dozen times itching the injection site that had, of course, swelled.  And that's with a couple of doses of Claritan both before and after said injection.

So, yeah.  A good time.

But after five looooooong months of this hassle, I am finally on what the professionals in the biz refer to as my "maintenance dose," which means I can now go every month and get this poison injected into my system, and crossing my fingers, it will have a 99% effectiveness in keeping any reaction to bee stings I might receive in the future from actually happening.  

Seems like a win-win to me.

So, why am I rambling on and on about it? 

Good question.

A good friend and I were having coffee (it sounds soooooo cosmopolitan, doesn't it? Ladies that lunch and have coffee? And we are the true epitome of cosmopolitan, let me just tell you!), and I brought up the fact that, recently, it seems, I've been asked my opinions on topics only to have my opinions demonized as well as being told just how far off the mark I am in terms of those opinions.  

What has increasingly frustrated me is not that someone chooses to ignore the opinion.  Hey!  It's a free country.  Do what you will.  Not my problem if you choose to do or believe something stupid.  No, what bothers me is this idea that if you ask for my opinion, I give it, and then you immediately put me down for it.  Listen, you ASKED me.  I am very sorry that I didn't agree with you.  Dude!  Look in the mirror.  Misguided and judgmental all over the place! 

However, my ever-so-smart gal pal reminded me, "Poisonous perspectives ultimately result in misguided thought processes.  You are so wrapped up in the fight while drowning in the toxic environment, you forget what is true and right."  

Oh man!  Did she ever nail it!  We've all been there.  Full on toxic environments that, on the onset, you knew was toxic, but you thought you could do good despite it.  You thought you could make a difference.  But you get soooooo wrapped up in it and the fight and the desire to just survive,  you lose perspective.  

I am blessed that I have been granted time and perspective on those toxic moments in my life (and LAWD, there are have been a ton!) and I am a better, more attuned individual for it now.  I think there is value in carrying those lessons around with us, because in sharing those poisonous perspectives, we are able to give vision to what can be if you are willing to move past it. 

As another friend said to me recently, "I would hope that, as a good, true friend, you would have the courage to hit me upside the head when I am doing something stupid.  And as a friend, while I might not like it, I would hope I would listen to you, weigh it carefully, and try to gain a different perspective."

It really is all about perspective.  If you are unwilling to see another perspective, perhaps you aren't really willing to change.  And change is good.  Sometimes, the fight? It's just  a fight.  And what do you gain beyond being bloodied and bruised and broken?




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