Instinct
Sunday, January 4th, 2009So, it’s about 2:30 am and I’m drifting off to sleep. Another 20 minutes and it would take someone physically shaking my shoulder to wake me up.
I hear movement on the floor below me. Someone is walking back and forth quickly. I can see lights coming on. People are talking in not-quite-hushed voices.
For years, this sort of post-midnight activity in my home meant that someone was in trouble or needed to go to the hospital. When living at home, I was always prepared for the middle-of-the-night nudge from my mother and instructions to make sure everyone got to school if she wasn’t back in time for the morning. When you have a large family with as many medical problems as mine, you learn to react to these things calmly and reliably. You would verify who is calling who for follow-up, who needed medicine or a packed lunch for school, who needed a ride to school, and if Mom (it was invariably Mom who was rushing out) needed someone to go along with her or not.
I credit this training at home for my ability to be calm, stoic and rational during crises in my work and volunteer projects when everyone else seems to be losing their head. Letting your emotions get in the way of taking sensible action seems to be a rather selfish and stupid thing to do. It’s okay to be emotional, but don’t let it interfere with what needs to get done.
Of course, tonight’s post-midnight activity was nothing more than my roommates arriving home after a night out, but I didn’t know that until I was already fully awake and prepared to deal with whatever emergency was upon us. It’s a good thing I don’t have any need to get up early tomorrow.
