I went dancing! I haven’t been dancing in ages, and I hadn’t planned on going any time soon. But there was a street party and it looked awesome and I was with friends…. so why not? And when I say “street party” I mean a serious street party. A
major road was blocked off. There were spotlights on roofs and funky colors displayed on city hall. The music ranged from club remixes to motown to disco to whatever else you can dance to. There were congo lines in the street. A beach ball was being tossed around through the crowd. And the weather was cool and pleasant and I felt decent. So why not?
Well, I’ll tell you why not. Because pain. Because fatigue. Because sick body. Yeah, that.
But it looked like so much fun! So I asked myself, “Is this worth it?” And then I continued to ask myself that question every five minutes for the next 2 hours. Sometimes I came close to going home, but then I decided it was worth staying. The question wasn’t whether or not I’d feel horrible later or the next day. I knew I would. There was no question about that. But if I never did anything that made my symptoms worse, I’d never do much of anything (including typing this right now.) Some things aren’t worth the extra pain, fatigue, nausea, etc., but some are. And this was.
The “Is It Worth It?” Graph
At a certain point, I knew I was reaching that point where it wasn’t worth it anymore, so I headed home. The fallout wasn’t too bad. I felt lousy the next day, but not as horrible as I’d have expected. I’m still recovering, but it’s going well. And I have no doubt: it was totally worth it!
Chronic Rants 
Sometimes, the memories outweigh the pain. And that’s what keeps us going on the darker days. 😉
That’s so true, Jess!
You had fun, but you knew when you had reached your limit. You got out, and although you suffered the next day, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. You did good.
Thanks CM! I often don’t predict my limit as well as I did that night, but I’m glad it worked out that time!
YAY! So glad you were able to go and have fun. I often equate this debate to the “is he sponge-worthy” bit on Seinfeld. Sometimes we just have to have fun even if we know we’ll pay for it later. Sometimes, it’s just worth it.
OMG, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that reference myself! That’s awesome, Julie! I’m totally going to use that from now on when I try to explain this to people.
Seems much easier for people to comprehend. Everyone “gets” Seinfeld….
You would think so, but that’s not quite true. I’m always a bit shocked when I run into someone who didn’t watch it. I mean, how can we possibly communicate without Seinfeld references? I hope younger generations keep watching the reruns!
Sadly, I don’t think they do from what I’ve seen. Friends yes, Seinfeld not as much.
So sad. They don’t know what they’re missing.