Day 38 Good Grief!

You may remember the five stages of grief that we were exposed to back in the 70's. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross wrote about death and dying and her writing about her patients opened the door to understanding more about the grieving process. The five major components she uncovered:

 1) Denial

2) Anger

3) Bargaining

4) Depression

5) Acceptance

Since its release in 1969 nearly 50 years ago, a lot has been written about these stages. In the studies and treatises and commentary written since, some have further expounded on each stage, or perhaps identified more. For instance, some have elucidated on denial by adding the reactions of shock and isolation. No matter, Ms. Kübler-Ross got a whole generation talking about and looking at how loss affects people facing death.  

Day 37 "Please, please. A moment to reflect...." Michaelangelo

 Got my stomping and swearing done last night, not that I really do much stomping or swearing.

I guess the whole thing bothered me more than I thought it would.  I tossed and turned last night and didn't get more than thirty minutes of sleep at a time. When 4:00am rolled around, I got up, got ready and went to work. I clocked in at 6:14. I'm left wondering what I'm going to do when everyone is gone and the doors are finally locked.

Day 36 Third Worst Day of My Life

First of all, I want to say a HUGE "Thank you!"

to all of you who have put up with my ramblings on this blog. Some of you have reached out to me and shared positive and encouraging words. You keep me on track and accountable! Thank you so very much for your support.

Day 35 S.A.D.

Some of you may know the acronym S.A.D. to mean Seasonal Affective Disorder.  SAD is a type of depression that seems to recur about the same time every year. For many people who suffer from SAD, this occurs during the darker winter months, although it can occur at any time of the year.  

I know I can barely wait until the shortest day of the season arrives as it means each day will start to get longer and have more light.

Day 34 Unexpected Surprises

This weekend has had a number of unexpected, unfriendly surprises. I'm happy to report that I survived them and hope to have learned a few lessons as well.

I went out Friday night as I have done in the past. For dinner, I had nachos.  The plate was massive and if I ate a 10th of it I'd say that was a lot. Unfortunately, it did not pair nicely with the black Russians (2) I had. About 3:20am I work up with terrible heartburn and promptly lost dinner. 

Sleep took a while to come and when it did, it felt glorious. When I work up, though, that feeling did not remain. I felt weak, dehydrated, nauseous, and just icky.  There was a tightness in my chest. My blood pressure was 100/67 (not terrible) but my pulse was rocking at 108.  

I went to urgent care, where they hooked me up to a bag of rehydration fluids. Given my past sketchy heart history (unknown heart attack in the past) and an EKG he didn't quite like, the urgent care doc decided to call an ambulance and shoot me off to the hospital.

Let me tell you how weird it is to be riding in a vehicle backward, on a gurney, taking the curves without being able to brace yourself.  The whole experience was surreal all while my EMT attendant, a nice fellow named Jason (who reminded me of Spider Sabich)

inserted not one but two IV's into me. I was impressed. I can't even imagine what it must be like to do something like that with the ambulance going full tilt and needing to get something like an IV into an unconscious patient.

Day 33 Unspoken Standards

Another day.

It's the last day of the workweek for most. Not for me. I was ill earlier this week and have to make up the time. Which I will do tomorrow. I have to work 9 hours. Yech.

The work time is worth it though. I'll be able to get a lot done, a lot, without any interference. NO meetings, no noise makers in the office. I can concentrate on the work at hand and maybe get close to getting caught up.

Our list moved from 13 to 27. I'm two calls short for the week, but I'm a week behind so tomorrow I should really be able to get a huge chunk of catch up done.

I found a little bar, Hero's , which is in an old American Legion watering hole. 

 
C and I each had two drinks. We are smart enough to leave well enough alone. I've been chatting with Darrell via instant chat all evening.  Two drinks and I feel like such a light weight.

I'm not really cut out for bars and drinking the way J is. He has an addictive personality disorder so it is not surprising that he likes bars and alcohol and drinking. That was never me. The serious stuff I did with him was because I was with him. I never sought it out on my own, and even after he left I didn't seek to alter my realm of consciousness.  I was never interested in changing my perception of reality. I always felt like I was stable enough with myself to know I wouldn't harm myself overtly in any sort of drug induced way.

Day 32 My Own Actions Impact Others

My job is to listen to people as insurance agents interact with them over the phone. When I select a call, I never know what I'm going to get. Even my "good" agents surprise me sometimes.

Sometimes, I think the surprise comes because they get a caller that the agent has next to no idea how to deal with. Perhaps there is an extreme language barrier.  The United States has been home to a large variety of cultures for a long time.  Sometimes, it's a jargon barrier.  Some people are not good at explaining insurance lingo to people who have very little experience with insurance companies. And sometimes, my agents don't know what to do with people who call because the caller has a chip on their shoulder the size of Devil's Tower.

It got me thinking.  I know what makes a good insurance agent. I've heard some excellent agents. But, more often I listen to average agents who don't know what to do when they have a prospect who is not average. Here's where my thinking comes in....

Are you a good customer?