#64: What lying in a Hospital Bed taught me...

I had the misfortune of being hospitalized last week due to multiple slip disc. I guess it will be age before beauty now going forward for me... 

Jokes apart however, this accident was a somewhat a sobering experience for me. 

We are always chasing rainbows, building castles in the air laden with pipe dreams and believe that we are the masters of our destiny but all of it can be wiped off in one cruel turn of fate.

I hate closed spaces and being couped up within the confines of an MRI machine, alone in noisy room that sounded like the insides of a washing machine for one hour that seemed like eternity is not your average day in the park.

As I was off my gadgets, I was forced to hear my thoughts - something we barely do these days...

Trying hard not to think of all the worst case scenarios running through my head, I started to wonder as to what are the things that I still needed to achieve.

There were two things that kept resonating in my head

1. I need to become a better person

I believe I have a lot to improve as a person and I must leave this planet having become a better human being. It is a daily task that I must work on and must supersede everything that I do. After all, what then will we have left in the sunset years of our life?

Our Money, job, position, standing in society will cease to matter. Only friends and family and the moments we created with them will!

2. Don't take things for granted

When I collapsed after injuring my back, I could not move an inch. I had to be wheeled away in a stretcher.

All the basic body movements that we take for granted are actually very complicated

Almost all of behavior involves motor function, from talking to gesturing to walking. But even a simple movement like reaching out to pick up a glass of water can be a complex motor task to study. Not only does your brain have to figure out which muscles to contract and in which order to steer your hand to the glass, it also has to estimate the force that you would need to apply to hold the glass including the weight of the glass.

Only when this everyday gift of motor function is taken away from us, we will learn to appreciate all that we so take for granted!

Till next time...