Going the extra mile
Lillian Ortiz,
23rd Dec 2018
Tags:
Life
Blog
Friendship
Purpose
Being sick is the worst, especially during the holiday season, but that is exactly what happened to me.
All I wanted was to finish the first semester of school healthy and strong and be able to enjoy all the Winter festivities, but instead, I felt like I was barely getting by.
The worst part was that my vulnerable physical state began taking a toll on my mind and emotions.
Whereas everyone around me was filling up with the Christmas spirit, I began to feel as though I was being mocked by it. I couldn't help but feel like I was becoming the Christmas Grinch.
What we want and need is a little TLC that we can't get from ourselves.
Naturally, with everything and everyone around me becoming an aggravation, I began to draw away and close myself off to people.
It is funny how, in our misery, we think that isolating ourselves from others will make things better, when really what we want and need is a little TLC (tender loving care) that cannot come from ourselves.
Even if there were people all around me trying to offer encouragement, love, and assistance, I couldn't see it.
Courtesy wasn't going to cut it with the amount of attention I was privately desiring.
When people would ask me how I was doing or how I felt, I'd perceive that they didn't really care to know the answer, but were just asking out of courtesy, and courtesy wasn't going to cut it with the amount of attention I was privately desiring.
Perhaps I just misinterpreted all their efforts, but that doesn't negate the fact that I was feeling the way I was, which was invisible, overlooked, unloved, and uncared for.
I also felt hopeless wondering: How long will these feelings last? What will it take for me to snap out of this emotional rut I've found myself in? Will I feel like this every time I get sick?
Well, you'll be happy to know this story ends well.
I got my questions answered just a couple of days ago when my friend came by to check on me and see how I was doing.
Basically, the walls came down and I opened up to her. It was such a release I didn't know that I needed, and my friend was such a comfort and support to me.
She made sure I was stocked with all the necessary medicine.
She carefully listened to me, gently provided me with sound advice, prayed for me, laughed and cried with me, and hugged me.
Before parting ways, she even made sure I was stocked with all the necessary medicine I needed to get physically better.
Even though I still have some coughs and sniffles to overcome, I feel my heart has been mended and my spirit returned!
I didn't realise that at some point over the course of being sick, I adopted a 'woe is me' attitude and became very bitter, self-focused, and unlike myself.
But now that I have been so touched by my selfless friend taking the time to reach out to me, I want to go the extra mile and be that kind of blessing for someone else!
My friend pushed a little harder because she cared.
Where some people had failed to press through the walls I had put up, my friend pushed a little harder because she cared. All I needed was a little TLC.
What if everyone in the world would go that one extra mile to make sure the people around them are getting a little TLC.
