A Positive Spin on a Bad Situation

I had an appointment to go have my blood pressure checked this morning. It was an interesting time I had getting into the nurse. I checked in as usual, tucked the paperwork in its plastic receptacle, and sat down in the waiting room. I felt good. There were two choices in reading material: The New Yorker Magazine and The Wine Spectator. I selected The New Yorker.

Thinking it would be a good idea to peruse the table of contents first, rather than randomly look at the advertisements, I saw a poem that looked interesting. It was about trees, or being a tree – something like that. I thought it sounded peaceful, so began searching for it towards the back of the magazine looking for the correct page number. I noticed more advertisements, and then I came across a photo of an evil looking dog, complete with snarling lips and sharp teeth. My heart dropped into my stomach, and I slammed the magazine shut, putting it upside down on the side table.

I can’t remember exactly what happened after that, but I do remember I ended up crying with my face hidden in my hands. Finally I got up the courage to get a tissue, and I called my daughter (who was waiting outside in the car). Mostly I needed to know what a photograph like that was doing in a magazine. I was thinking the worst things like: maybe they were advertising dogfights or selling fighting dogs, something sinister like that. When my daughter arrived, I shared exactly what I had done, so she could locate the picture, and tell me what it was about.

I walked her through what happened, and she located the photo of the dog. She wasn’t able to figure out what was being advertised, except for some sort of DVD about a white dog. Again, I began thinking the worst about what people can do with the wrong sort of dog. When I asked her if the photograph was scary, she affirmed that it was.

The next think I knew, I was called into the nurse’s office for my BP check. The nurse noticed that I looked poorly, and she asked if I was okay. I told her that I was not okay, explained what had happened, and went inside with my daughter’s support. We decided to go through with the BP check, and it was pretty good! I was glad for that, but I still felt really upset.

The nurse was really sweet, and she stated that we could look at this from the perspective that the medication is doing it’s job, and I’m getting better at dealing with the negative input that randomly comes my way. It was a good way to look at it, I think. Maybe this experience will help me get better at looking at things in a positive light.