Isn’t it stressful having Parkinson’s disease? It’s practically a 24/7, can’t-escape-it career. With homework. You have to exercise almost daily; take longs walks in nature; get plenty of sleep; do creative projects to keep your mind active (like, say, learn a second language…); read books and magazine articles like a fiend; meditate; eat extremely well; coordinate your meals with your pill popping; keep up with friends; play a musical instrument; dance; and now, according to a recent (and, frankly speaking, fascinating) blog post by the Michael J Fox Foundation, putter around the house doing odd jobs.
And if you are already working at a full time job? Well, golly gee! P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E-!
Fortunately for me, when I sally into Manhattan to see a doctor or some friends, I get an automatic 45-minute enforced down time on the commuter train into the city. Round trip, that totals an hour and a half.
Hence, voilà! A sonnet on this very subject of stress relief.
There comes a time in everybody’s life,
When you stop, take stock, and say, Hold on!
I’ve pressures jabbing through me like a knife,
Pushing me about like I’m some pawn!
Push me left, then right, then up some hill –
My breathing’s got more breathless as I age.
Sweat drips down my sides. Run of the mill
Exertion? Or perhaps it’s more the rage
Of anxiousness…. So stop. Take stock. Hold on.
Decide what’s good for you. Some kiwi fruit,
Greening your insides? A run at dawn?
Banana walnut pancakes? New swimsuit?
For every “down” in life, there are more “ups.”
The whispering rain at night. A child’s hiccups.
Note: I was wondering how to end this sonnet while I was riding home on the commuter train. Just then, a boy about 5 years old got out of his seat and stood in the aisle, staring at me as I scratched and scribbled in my notebook. He started to hiccup in a most charming way. Et voilà!
Pressure – it’s all about PRESSURE. !!!?