After recently returning from adventures in Spain, I enjoyed yesterday’s adventures, which included reconnecting with my life-long friend Barbara for our annual birthdays celebration.
On Brunch for Lunch Day, Barbara and I shared our adventures in the worlds of medical issues, family, architecture, travel, childhood, and adulthood.
I told Barbara about my adventures in Spain and my possible solo adventures in Europe this September.
Sharing adventures with supportive friends like Barbara helps me feel braver for all the adventures ahead.
What adventures do you see in my images for today?
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We never know what adventures the day will bring. For example, when my intuition told me to ask that question about intuition last night, I had no idea that today was Trust Your Intuition Day.
I look forward to sharing adventures with my son and other family member this evening on a video call.
Here’s what I find when I search for adventures on YouTube:
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Thanks to all who are here for my daily adventures, including YOU!
I don’t know if this is TMI (Too Much Information), but yesterday I might have shared TLI (Too Little Information) here when I wrote that I had recently dealt with two worst case scenarios. By not describing the worst case scenarios, my TLI caused some people to be concerned and worried.
I don’t know about you, but I sometimes don’t know what’s TMI and what’s TLI. In other words, I wonder whether I’m sharing JRI (Just Right Information).
Anyway, I wonder if I’m now going to share TMI to deal with the TLI I shared yesterday.
Because I was born with a very rare heart condition, I needed to get a mechanical heart valve in 2016, which requires me to be on Warfarin for the rest of my life to reduce the coagulation of my blood. If my blood has Too Much Coagulation, my heart valve will clog, which means I’d need the dreaded open heart surgery again to get a new heart valve. If my blood has Too Little Coagulation, that can cause internal bruising and bleeding.
So, I need to maintain Just Right Coagulation and, because I had a mini-stroke (also called a TIA!) when I had TMC (Too Much Coagulation) a few years ago, the range of Just Right Coagulation is very thin.
TMI? TLI? JRI? Wait, there’s more!
I have to use this device …
… to measure the coagulation time of my blood (also called INR), which has a delay before it displays the magic number. During the delay, my mind always goes to the worst case scenario — the number is too low, which means I need to inject myself with this …
… twice a day until my INR has good enough coagulation.
On Friday, my INR was 2.5, the lowest it’s been since I had my TIA when I was on vacation in Georgia, where I was hospitalized until my blood had Just Right Coagulation. So I’ve been injecting myself this weekend and I’m now hoping for an INR that has good enough coagulation (2.7 or above), which I’ll check after I finish this blog. If it’s still too low, I’ll just keep injecting myself and I’ll take more Warfarin tonight.
TMI, TLI, JRI?
And what about the second worst case scenario I mentioned in yesterday’s TLI blog post? I’m not going to describe that because it’s too long of a story, but I will avoid TLI by letting you know that it has nothing to do with my health or the health of anybody else.
Is there TMI, TLI, or JRI in my other images for today?
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I wonder if I’ll find Too Much Information, Too Little Information, or Just Right Information when I search for “TMI, TLI, and JRI” on YouTube.
… I thought about a recent therapy session when I had suggested that someone — who was dealing with many slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in their lives — visualize and design some imaginary body armor to protect themselves. This person loved that assignment and looked forward to sketching some cool body armor they could then imagine putting on when they were feeling vulnerable.
This morning, as I get ready to go out into the world, I feel like I could use some body armor, too. My body armor would be colorful, strong, comfortable, and allow myself to move and react nimbly. My body armor would repel bad news, aggression, and toxicity from the outside and let my own self-defeating thoughts escape easily.
Do you see any examples of body armor in today’s images?
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Do you think imagining and wearing body armor might help you live your best life during these scary times?
Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “body armor.”
When I spent hours looking at tiles for our shower remodel yesterday, little did I know that I was looking at body armor.
Thanks to all who — like imaginary body armor — help me feel safer, including YOU.
What’s your first guess about why today’s post is titled “First guess, best guess”? Let’s find out if it’s the best guess.
Since the first day I met my best friend/husband Michael, he’s been saying, “First guess, best guess.”
One of my other best friends wrote to me the other day, when I felt insecure about how I had run a board meeting: “I’m not sure 2nd guessing is helpful.”
Is it your first guess, best guess that both those pieces of advice — “First guess, best guess” and “I’m not sure 2nd guessing is helpful” — mean the same thing?
I love guessing and I don’t stop with my first guess. If I DID stop with my first guess, our ailing and adorable cat Oscar would not be alive today. Also, Michael’s first guess was that the Social Security office had his correct birthday on file and they did NOT. My next guess about filing our taxes is that we’ll have to do that by mail, which is not exactly a catastrophe (although my first guess — when the IRS rejected our e-filing this weekend because Michael’s birthday on the form did not match Social Security’s record — was that it WAS a catastrophe).
Catastrophizing is a common cognitive distortion (which we talk about in my Coping and Healing groups) where our first guess is that a catastrophe is imminent, even though it isn’t.
Since catastrophizing is a first guess, not best guess, I’m now guessing that “first guess, best guess” is not always best.
However, my first guess about Michael, when I first met him on okCupid, was that he was a wonderful person I wanted in my life. I’ve had similar first guess, best guesses about other people, including the other best friend I quoted above.
My best guess about guesses, here and now, is that it’s best to trust our intuition AND also be open to new evidence that comes along.
What’s your first guess, best guess about what’s next in this blog post?
If you guessed photos, your first guess was the best!
In today’s Daily Bitch Calendar, auto-correct’s first guess was not the best guess.
This is the first song I heard by The Guess Who, which I think is their best:
My first guess was that the title of that song was “She’s Come Undone” but my best guess is that it is “Undun.”
My first guess, best guess is that there will be great comments about today’s post.
First guess, best guess, constant guess is to express gratitude every day.
