6th October, 2021
This is not really weight related this time, but it is something that has been on my mind. 6 weeks plus now post-op, I am starting to be able to do so much more. I still get very tired.This I think is because I am trying to do more coupled with not being able to sleep much at night. Thankfully not having to do much during the day, I can cope. I am still positive that as time passes I will be to go out more.
Before I went into hospital, Steve and I realised that I would be extremely limited as to where I would be able to go for quite a few weeks after the operation, so we decided to go out for the day. This was a day for me and him just before the grandchildren visited. Steve was in the middle of decorating at the time, but that could wait, it was important for us to have some time together. The distance we can travel is limited for a few reasons, but we do have certain places we like to go depending on how things are at a particular time, and this day we went to Chesterfield. It has been a very slow process for me to go anywhere for quite a few years, but a little quality time is better than nothing. We do love Chesterfield as it has a good mix of some of the things we like. Good places to eat and drink, charity shops, a record shop, a lovely antique shop with a good tea room, a market, and quite a few accessible toilets. :-) Long story about toilets, which I won't go into here, but it's important none the less.
We had a great day, we didn't stay too long because I was very tired but we managed to see what we wanted to, and I got some charity shop bargains. A washbag I needed for the hospital and a beautiful cream poncho with glittery studs on. We went back to the bus station and as we were waiting for the bus back to Barnsley a man on a mobility scooter passed by us at speed. On the front of his scooter was a sign which read “I am not Dr. Griffin”. I was a little confused, and asked Steve “Who is Dr. Griffin”? Steve replied “He's the Invisible Man in the H.G. Wells novel”. Steve knows more than me about this sort of thing, but it got me thinking. I'm sure it was lost on a lot of people, thinking he was strange at best, but I thought it was a quite intelligent way of expressing how he felt. I am sure it could have started quite a few conversations, even though some people would think it is a daft thing to have on your mobility scooter. I must admit I could see exactly where he was coming from. I walk with the aid of a wheeled walker and there are so many people who don't see me coming. Now, some would argue that as you walk around shopping centres etc. you don't have to constantly watch out for others and they have a responsibility to watch out for you, and I can sort of see this, but some people are more mobile than others. So many times I have had people walk right up to me and not realise until the last second that I am there, which is fine, but then they tut and shake their heads at me because they have to walk around me.
A moan, I know, but it does make things harder, and obviously this gentleman with the mobility scooter had had the same problems. I don't know if I would like to be in the way of a mobility scooter going at speed (and some of them do go very quickly indeed), but I am sure there are arguments from both sides to the matter. The conclusion I came to as I thought about this is I don't want to be invisible. I can't stop people walking into me, we all have things on our minds in our busy lives, but I want to do my best to stand out and be my best.
There are many times in our lives that we start to disappear visually from people when we are out in public. This can be by not being seen or being judged by what we look like. For those of us that are bothered by this, there are two things we can do about it. Ignore what is happening or do something about it. Whether that is pointing it out, like the chap on the mobility scooter, or working on all you can do to boost your confidence to face the outside world the best way you can. I have been thinking about this for a while and just wanted to voice my opinion here in my blog. As I start to get out and about more in public places I am sure I will be looking at things in another light. Hopefully I will get out again very soon and I am sure I will have more to write about as I think I look at things differently since I have lost weight and as I get older.
All for now,
Until next time,
Love, Jackie.
xx
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