My wife thinks she’s Wonder Woman. Not the cartoon character. Not the Lynda Carter TV icon. But she does think she’s invulnerable, super-strong, and impervious to pain. And she’s not alone. A lot of women that came of age in the 70’s and 80’s bought into that superheroine myth.
In the five decades I’ve been on God’s green Earth, I’ve learned that what you believe is every bit as influential regarding how you react to something as is the stimulae itself. In other words, the way you react to a given situation is largely going to be dictated by your belief system. Here’s an illustration that I think will clear things up…Three people are locked in a room. One grew up around an uncle who ran a snake attraction, and was used to handling snakes. The next grew up traumatized, as a favorite relative died on a camping trip, from a snakebite. The third has no exposure – positive or negative – to snakes.
A panel opens in the ceiling, and a snake is lowered into the room. One event: three dramatically different reactions. The first person says “Oooh, what a cute snake!,” and picks it up to play with it. The second person hyperventilates, panics, and attempts to claw their way out of the room. Third goes back to reading a book.
Mrs. Digital’s belief system is founded upon the idea that she has to be self-sufficient, strong, and handle anything life throws at her. That’s a worldview that’s worked for her well enough…until now. Then she met her nemisis – Brown Recluse Spider.
It seems that the venom from a brown recluse is incredibly toxic. Don’t believe me? Google “brown recluse spider” and take a look at the pictures that acompany some of the entries. Nasty stuff, necrossing flesh and all that. And the worst part is that the venom found the chink in her armor – her belief system’s Achilies’ heel, as it were. For you see, it doesn’t matter how strong your will power is, as venom has a way to trump even the strongest of constitutions.
Mrs. Digital started in typical superhero fashion – DENIAL. (At one time, I used to refer to her as Cleopatra – Queen of Denial.) When the spider bite worstened, she did finally agree to see a medical professional. Unfortunately, her physican wasn’t sure if it was a brown recluse bite (it was), but prescribed some antibiotics, as a hedge against the possibility that it was. She mentioned, “since it’s been days since the bite, there’s not much else I can do right now, other than watch it. You may need surgery.
Mrs. Digital has even less enthusiasm for being cut on than she does for needles. She was quick to insist that no cutting would be necessary. Fast-forward to three weeks later. Cutting WAS necessary, as the wound kept necrossing – and putting her in a lot of pain. Of course, Wonder Woman’s instinct was to get right back to work aprés-surgery. Several more trips back to the doctor to staunch the bleeding, and she’s finally getting into the idea that maybe the world will continue spinning on its own, even if Mrs. Digital takes a couple of personal days.
As for me, I’m doing my best to find a way to keep Mrs. Digital off rooftops and hide her magic lassos. She doesn’t know it, but while I think she’s obviously super, what I’d really like is to keep her around forever.
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