It's Just Nerves

I think, at some point, we all become (supposed) card-carrying physicians. Believing ourselves to know the cure of whatever is ailing our neighbor.
I’ve been under the weather lately and haven’t talked about it to too many people. But after a while, people have started to assume that I am in a permanent bad mood (which might be partly true) so I’ve decided to tell a few people here and there that my health isn’t so great right now. Several people’s immediate response has been to tell me exactly what’s wrong, exactly why and exactly what I should do about it. They blurt out all of this in one breath and then stare at me, waiting for me to say thank you, I suppose. The laughable part is that everyone who has done this has been WAY off base about what’s going on with me. Granted, I’ve only given them one or two symptoms, but aren’t they my symptoms to share? One person went on and on giving me one diagnosis after another in rapid fire while I shouted No.. It’s … NO… IT’S NOT THAT PLEASE SHUT-UP. It makes me want to keep my mysterious aches to myself. But of course, I am unable to keep anything about myself to myself, so I’m sure I will blab about it again in the near future. And I’m sure there will be someone handy to tell me that “it’s just nerves” and “you should probably start taking a Vitamin B every morning”.

I do it too. If a friend has an irritable ache I’ll try and immediately identify the source and offer some crude cure to help. I suppose it’s all about the fight against feeling helpless. The overwhelming urge to be in control. For nothing to happen that’s unexplainable or scary or different. I wonder why it’s oftentimes so difficult to say “I don’t know”.