The Indomitable Spirit

When I was working in long-term care, I took care of a woman who had no sight at all. Gods! I’ll never forget her, her name, or anything about her.

She hated me.

I should explain, I was the nurse that pushed my patients to do what they could. I wanted them to be as independent as possible. To be strong. To keep them from slipping into an early death because they weakened themselves.

This woman knew how to do many things, she would however pretend that she couldn’t. She loved having staff wait on her, including feeding her.

I could get her to stand and walk when she said her legs wouldn’t work because she was blind. (I’m still not sure how the two relate). I’d bring her a dinner tray and explain through the clock method where all of her food was. Occupational therapy taught her this, but again, she’d refuse to eat on her own. She also refused to use the toilet so that she wouldn’t have to get up.

This is a woman who knew my footsteps coming down the hall and start screaming “devil nurse, devil nurse”!

One night, I brought in her dinner. I told her where she could find everything and made sure she knew where each thing was. She was NOT happy. As I was walking away, she started her devil nurse scream. I turned around to narrowly miss a flying bedpan full of crap.

I kept walking and let her scream. Sometimes that’s all you can do.

In daily life, we face these same situations. It doesn’t have to be people, it can be situations, things, or stuff we don’t want to deal with. There’s always the proverbial “ the shit hit the fan” scenario.

Sometimes we have to walk away to care for things that are more important than to deal with the rantings that use up our energy. Our energy can only go so far. If we let whatever it is, use it all, how are we going to care for the things that really matter to us?

Letting go and walking away from the crap is sometimes the best thing we can do; for ourselves, the ones we love, and even our world community.

Again, don’t forget, when someone throws the bedpan of shit at you; leave it there and calmly walk away.