My tools: prompt
Noticing When My Life Force is Low
It’s exhaustion & sadness that tell me I’m off path
In 2014, I found myself passed out on a gurney in the ER waiting for the test results. I was so incredibly exhausted.
I had just flown in from Rome after traveling in Europe for the last five weeks. As I sat in my friend’s home, crying because of the ending of my current love affair, my friend looked at me and said, “Ummm, Katrina… I don’t think you’re alright. I know you’re upset. But you are a little too upset. This doesn’t feel like you. I think something else is wrong. Maybe you should go to the hospital to get checked out.”
And so, here I lay tired from traveling and crying (I thought) waiting to see what was wrong.
The doctor came in.
“So, Katrina it turns out that the hemoglobin in your blood is nearly non-existent. It should normally be between 130 and 160. Basic human functioning is 40. You are at 57. I honestly don’t know how you walked in here, let alone backpacked through Europe.”
But deep down I knew. It was a lot like the boiling frog analogy. I had been adjusting to total exhaustion for over 20 years. It had become my norm. I never checked in with myself anymore to see if I had the energy to do something —…
