What If There’s An Earthquake in the Middle of My Surgery?
By Judith Parker Harris
What If There’s An Earthquake in the Middle of My Surgery?
Block: Anxiety
Buster: Excitement
I’m going in for a little “corrective” surgery tomorrow morning, and while it’s a safe procedure that I want to do, I found myself slogging through a worry pit of my own making this weekend. My poor husband had to put up with questions like this: “What if there’s an earthquake in the middle of my surgery?” What could he say? He just looked at me with a smile on his face that conveyed his amusement mixed with love and assurance.
And, who wouldn’t be amused? The very question show’s the audacity of thinking that I’m so much in the center of the world that an earthquake would follow me into surgery? But, that’s another topic isn’t it? Getting over thinking we are the center of the universe and realizing we’re simply part of an interconnected chain link fence that somehow holds things together.
Just last Friday, at a luncheon and book signing for Dani Shapiro’s recently released memoir, Devotion, I learned a new word that sums up my worry tendency. It’s a Yiddish word, Zorg, which means to create unnecessary anguish. The word makes me laugh when I say it, as I look back on the hours, days, months and, yes, years I have wasted zorging.
We have a choice, you see. My husband tells me that all the time. We can open our hearts to the joy and wonder of each new day, or we can fill the day with a thousand zorgs that will rob us of time, create anxiety and most likely will never happen. (With “most likely,” I left a little opening for a zorg to happen. Gotta stop that.)
So, today, as I prepare for my little procedure, I’m going to wish my surgeon a relaxed and blessed day, bask in the gratitude that I have for my wonderful life filled with friends, family, opportunities and incredible experiences, and every time I start to zorg, I’m going to ask myself, “Is this anything that I can do something about?” If so, I’ll do it. If not, I’ll bust through anxiety with excitement and embrace the day and my life with gratitude and love. I’ll do my part to stay connected to life’s chain link fence and be thankful for those who are supporting me on either side.
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