The sun 🌞 was vibrant, with a cool breeze, as we sipped rosĂ©, and ate dried meats with the best cheese in the world….We were having the best picnic I could ask for in Versailles.
Then I rolled my leg over directly onto a wasp.
Stinger poised, ready to not get squashed…
In seconds, my ankle swelled, and today it’s almost twice as big as my right ankle.
The itching is unbearable in moments, as the swelled ankle fills out my sock and shoe, having to loosen my shoelaces to take off some of the pressure.
I’m not allergic, so I’ll be fine…
But the lesson for me is to have gratitude for the pain.
WHHAAA?
Yeah, to remember that my body is rich with wisdom and messages about my life…processing the sting and protecting the area, as the local area swells with white blood cells and other fluids, vulnerable “to attack” after the sting.
If it didn’t, the stinger’s poison would be swirling around my bloodstream causing much more pain and potentially shutting down vital functions if it wasn’t processed…
How important is it receive this wisdom from my body?
It’s everything. The compression of the surrounding nerves causes some pain and throbbing, but only to remind me to slow down…and honor something I wasn’t listening to prior…how much I was rushing around France rather than connecting. To Amanda Ranae, to myself…I wanted to control every moment of the trip, leaving no room for spontaneity…
After the sting the whole trip changed. I loosened my grip and allowed the cappuccinos and the call of the slow, meandering Parisian lifestyle to soak into me…
…as we sit in the back of an Uber, driving back to the airport, I could be upset about the swelling…but instead, my heart is filled with gratitude, and I get to reminisce about the last 5 days with my love…
Thank you Paris, for the transformation, the love…and the reminder to listen more closely to my body.
