I’m-alright-itis!
Written on July 22, 2009 at 7:32 am
It's all good!
“I’m alright”
The other day I bumped into a friend who is working an extraordinary number of hours a week, holding down two jobs to support her three children and herself. She’s a pretty inspiring girl- not because of the workload that she takes on but because she always has a huge smile on her face and because I have never heard her complain about anything.
She will go without enough sleep and sacrifice exercise but she genuinely seems happy with her lot. When she says; “I’m alright”, I think she’s better than alright. A positive attitude has been linked to better mental health, a longer life, less coughs and colds and protects against heart disease, strokes and chronic pain.
And hey, when life deals you a dodgy hand, you might as well sit back, enjoy the game and wait for your lucky break. But recently I’ve been struck by another group with I’m alright-it is.
For the past week I’ve been drowning in swine flu. It seems all my patients have the flu and few are surprised by the diagnosis.
It’s what you do with it that sorts the wheat from the chaff so to speak! Because aside from those few who are on death’s door or who have a serious medical problem like asthma, there is no medication we can give. The treatment is rest, lots of fluids, symptom relievers like paracetamol and…. Quarantine. Seven days of it to be precise.
Now in school holidays, quarantine for one is almost a death sentence for mum and the other kids. But when you own your own business, or a are struggling to hold onto contract work during a financial crisis, or are a stress head, you are at risk of being hit with a bout of “I’m-alright-it is”.
Sufferers of this condition believe that despite looking slightly green or grey, being almost unable to stand up and having a very disturbing (and extremely contagious) cough, that they are indispensible at work.
Yeah, studies have demonstrated that there is definitely a role for courage in the face of adversity and I agree that whining complainers are utterly boring; BUT there is a line you cross when your heroism comes at the cost of your own health as well as those of your colleagues and coworkers.
I can’t yet cure the flu but I’m having a mighty good shot at “I’m-alright-it is” whenever I get the chance!
