Our 21 year old son Zachary has two lifelines through which he can access the outside world: His parents, and his electronics (iPhone for music, iPad for everything else). Partially due to COVID restrictions, but more so due to who Zachary is as a human being, I don’t suspect either of these two life lines to decrease in their status of importance, even when the world does open up again.
As day was breaking early this morning, I prepared Zach’s breakfast: 6 syringes of specialized formula, mixed with water, plus another 4 small syringes with different types of medications that help keep his mind and body functioning, and comfortable. You’d think this task would be a priority of mine, given that without his gastro-tube feeds he would die.
But not this morning. I was mid-draw on one of the medication cocktails that I’d mixed in the pill crusher, and to my horror, looked onto the floor where I noticed his iPhone and Bluetooth headphones were, gulp, NOT CHARGING! What?! My heart sank. There they were in the sunlight, not connected to anything!
I immediately got my priorities together and stopped what I was doing to rescue the battery lifelessness from both items and got them plugged in. There IS no day without music and headphones for Zach. He can live without his bolus feeds and meds, but take the iPhone away and we have a serious event. Fortunately I was able to restore order Super Woman style, including taking it upon myself to confirm the iPad was also charging (100% yes!)
I laughed out loud at the thought of how quickly and easily I knew what was more important, in that moment. We all need nutrition, food and water, to function. But we also each have those lifelines that are the currency of our lives. It might be fun to think about what yours are, and ask yourself a couple of questions:
- What is my lifeline? (Aka what makes me tick?)
- Does it contribute to, or detract from, me showing up as the best version of myself?
- Do I make it a priority?
If we can answer number 1 easily, answer number 2 with a “contributes to” and answer number 3 with a YES! We are on the right path.