I’ve not been a fan of December for many years. I’m always relieved at the arrival of January, with the stress of frantic festive pressures behind us, and the promise of lighter evenings ahead. This year, I decided I would embrace the month with a little more energy and just accept its inevitability. The Christmas and New Year period comes and goes in no time, I told myself. Just face up to it, smile and crack on with it. Besides, I have a much better life these days than I’ve had in a very long time.
However, only a few days into December I had the rug pulled from under my feet by the chest infection from Hell. I have great confidence in my immune system, and figured that I’d be on top of it in no time. But it dragged on and on, sometimes feeling as if I had the Devil himself in my chest. It took me until the 29th December before I finally agreed to see a doctor, who told me I have atelectasis, or a collapsed lung (partially collapsed in my case, I believe). I clearly should’ve gone sooner, rather than just soldiering on. I’m currently on my third day of antibiotics, which I think may be starting to kick in now, although last night my coughing fits were so severe I thought I was turning inside out. I’ve been lucky to have Melanie around. She always says, “I’m not a nurse, I’m an occupational therapist. I don’t look after people, I teach them to look after themselves.” Nonetheless, she was really worried seeing me so ill, and she has been a great nurse too!
Ok, I’m not feeling so good right now, but in the grand scheme of things it is just a small blip. I’m not too troubled by it. It’s just a matter of time. And I always like to draw positives out of negatives. Had I not been so ill, I would never have met a most inspirational doctor. After he called me from the waiting room, I followed him along the corridor. He was about 5 metres ahead of me, walking backwards and smiling the whole time. I made some comment about needing mirrors to look where he was going. He walked like this all the way into his office. I was amused and pleased to meet such a happy soul. He then went on to explain that he is walking backwards as much as possible at the moment, because our brains need to constantly be learning new skills – especially as we get older. He told me that a colleague of his had just retired and decided to learn to skateboard.
This kind of thing is of interest to me. I immediately thought about Lindy Hop dancing, which has been a pastime of mine for the last nine years (albeit on and off). You are always learning new moves and new steps. Dancing is said to be good for the brain. I told him about this and one of my favourite expressions – You don’t give up dancing because you get old, you get old because you give up dancing. It felt like we’d bonded. Then we got down to the business of why I was there in the first place. He had an air of genuine interest and willingness to help. When he hit me with the bombshell of a collapsed lung, even that didn’t deter me from enjoying what was a truly uplifting meeting. Life would be so much better if we could be surrounded by such positive people more often.
This brings me on to New Year’s resolutions. I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. I’d rather make resolutions as and when I see fit. However, if you are looking for ideas, rather than giving something up (which you’ll probably have started back up again by February), why not learn some new skill. Things that I have randomly tried in the past are: learning to juggle, practice keep-ups with a football (my record is 252), learn how to do proper card magic, learn a language, learn a musical instrument, learn memory systems (I used to be able to memorise a whole pack of cards in order).
There is no end of things that can be done to keep your brain fit. Things like origami, learning to draw, learning to knit – whatever interests you. Anything is better than just allowing your brain to be idle. In February I shall be partially retiring. I’m looking forward to doing many things to keep my mind and body fit. I quite fancy learning more construction skills after building my first ever patio last year. I intend to improve my piano skills. I may get back into memory systems (they’re great mind exercises), or learn some interesting dance steps.
I need to get myself fit now after this collapsed lung episode, but it won’t be long and I can’t wait to get back to being myself again.
That’s my thought for New Year’s Eve. I hope you have a wonderful 2024… and beyond, of course. You could even walk backwards into the new Year!
MARK D PRITCHARD writes... 