Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Taking a Break from Strong?

A courage conundrum: Can a strong person have a weak stomach?

I won't burden you with details, but I came down with food poisoning last night. A rough six hours, but it was the cleanup that was most vexing.

Willpower alone does little to restrain a stomach in rebellion. I do know that hypnosis can get amazing results; my psychologist husband helps people prepare for chemo, etc., using clinical hypnosis. He mentioned this morning that this episode was an opportunity to "work on" my sensitivities. I did not press him for details. Wasn't feeling bold.

I do know that it's possible to desensitize to a smell. Living in Varanasi, India, doing research for Sister India, I found that I "forgot" the smell of the riverbank funeral pyres.

And yet a bad smell is an astonishingly tough adversary. Even rioters can be dispersed by the truly potent stink bomb.

I may just decide to be a wuss in this particular aspect of life, unless I hit a persistent need to do otherwise.



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5 comments:

Mamie said...

I think we were siamese twins in a former life - had a bit of tummy trouble myself last night. It's the second time after eating at this one restaurant. I can take a hint, especially when it's a bold one!

Peggy Payne said...

Sorry about your bout with this stuff, Mamie. Wonder if we ate the same stuff.

My brothers are identical twins and they tend to get the same ailments, at pretty close to the same time. They both had to have quadruple bypasses, within ten days of each other.

Do let me know if you have symptoms I should be prepared for.

Debra said...

I do hope that you are both feeling better!

And Peggy, how incredibly interesting it must be to have brothers who are identical twins! I just got a bit of a chuckle thinking about what my life might have been like with TWO of my dear brother. He was quite the character, so to consider that in stereo-sound is almost more than I can imagine!

Did your brothers gang up on you to play practical jokes when you were a child? My brother used to enjoy scaring the heck out of me. It was definitely NOT amusing at the time, but now I can laugh about it.

Peggy Payne said...

Twin sibs, especially cute ones, can render a singleton invisible to all who stop to say hello. I may have gotten over that (maybe by painting flowers on my car.)

At the same time, my bros are as good friends to me as anyone could be. I don't think they ganged up on me when we were kids or thought about it that way, any more than a flood or a storm would. They were simply a huge (and cute) force of nature back then.

Debra said...

I am sure that you were as cute as they were!

Haha, a force of nature, for sure! I'm sure that life was never dull with twin brothers.

And you definitely created your own unique place in the world, Peggy! Cute twin brothers taught you how to stand out on your own.