Living With Tick-Borne Infections in WA State
Gandalf: He’s suffered a defeat, yes, but… behind the walls of Mordor, our enemy is regrouping.
Gimli: Let him stay there. Let him rot! Why should we care?
Gandalf: Because 10,000 Orcs now stand between Frodo and Mount Doom. I’ve sent him to his death.
Aragorn: No. There is still hope for Frodo. He needs time… and safe passage across the plains of Gorgoroth. We can give him that.
Gimli: How?
Aragorn: Draw out Sauron’s armies. Empty his lands. Then we gather our full strength and march on the Black Gate.
Éomer: We cannot achieve victory through strength of arms.
Aragorn: Not for ourselves. But we can give Frodo his chance if we keep Sauron’s Eye fixed upon us. Keep him blind to all else that moves.
Legolas: A diversion.
Gimli: Certainty of death. Small chance of success.. What are we waiting for?!
-The Last Debate, Return of the King
When I have an episode, emergency, whateverwewannacallit, it takes a while for the medicine to start working, or for the brain to correct itself, or many other ways of getting past said emergency to happen…
So what to do?
I distract myself. I divert my attention from the thing making me miserable. This isn’t easy, but it works. Having a list on hand of the things I enjoy makes it that little bit easier of a choice.
One of my favorite distractions is Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I have artwork on my walls, maps of Middle-earth framed, every Tolkien book or movie that comes out… I try to get as much as I can. My caregiver knows that when all else fails, the answer to, “do you need to go to Middle-earth?” will be yes at least 90% of the time.
If you have a suggestion to add to this list, please leave a comment!