that still, small voice ...

by Dotti

Do you listen to that still, small voice when it whispers in your ear? You know the one I’m talking about. Well, recently, I chose to ignore it at my own peril.

Toward the end of July, my mother asked if I could come spend a week with her while my brother and his family went on a long-planned vacation. I said, ‘Sure, Mom. I’ll see what I can work out.’ Little did I know that my best laid plans were going to get a bit unraveled.

Four days before my planned departure, I was diagnosed with bronchitis. Well, having been through that before, I knew it was nothing to laugh about. I did ask my family to see if Plan B could be worked out because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep my promise.

Hmmm. There didn’t seem to be a Plan B. So ignoring that still, small voice whispering in my ear, I dutifully put myself on that plane, drove from Baltimore to Pennsylvania and settled in to care for my mother. I’d begun to feel better so I thought all would be well.

Not.so.fast.

When I returned home a week later, I quickly learned that my bronchitis had turned into pneumonia. I was so focused on caring for my mother, I neglected to care for myself. Sound familiar?

It turns out I’m great at giving advice to other women about self care … but not so great at practicing it. I’m always the first one to tell you that you can’t jeopardize your health. Uh. Yeah.

For women, I think it’s often magnified because we’re the ‘caretakers’. We always push aside our needs to minister to the needs of others.

Friends, we really do need to take self-care seriously. We need to actually do it, not just give it lip service, engaging the help of others if necessary. We really should not jeopardize our own health to care for others, even those who are so very dear to us. We’re expendable. If I hadn’t gone to my mother’s, she would have been disappointed but she would have found another solution to her problem.

Above all, listen to that still, small voice when we hear it. It is usually is smarter than we are.

I told my daughter that if I had known then what I know now, I would not have gone to care for my mother. My daughter is adamant I’d have gone anyhow. I’m just really not sure.

Thankfully, I’m well on the road back to health but I wonder: 

What would you have done?