Now don´t get me wrong; I have nothing against old - in fact it is, in my opinion, infinitely better than the alternative.
And besides, lots of people who are older get to retire - and that is fun. A topic, indeed about which my million of blog readers, give or take 999,996 or so, know I have recently expounded on.
But ´doing old` is akin, in my mind, to the idea that if you keep thinking it will happen, what ever ´it´ is - be it good, bad or indifferent, there is more of a chance ´it´ will happen. Think Olympians visualizing winning the gold medal. And then they go on to win the medal.
So in reverse, if I have an ache or a pain, I don´t go on complaining to the world and his mother about it. That is to say I don´t ´do´ old and all the accouterments of being old, then maybe all that stuff will keep at bay a moment longer. And another thing, in fact...
... I have a gripe ´maximus´ on this topic:
My gripe is people thinking it is OK. complaining to the world at large about their aches and pains and how one can´t do this and that now as one could before. That is not only boring for moi, it is in addition, a grave disrespect, in my opinion, to people living with disabilities.
Many people who experience ill health or have a mental or physical disability may suffer aches and pains and perhaps can´t do this and that – all of their lives, not just when they get older..
But I for one have never heard an acquaintance sitting in a wheel chair complaining to me about how they can´t walk or what ever, but lots of acquaintances coming into the elder years feel it is perfectly OK. to inform me about all their aches and pains and how one can´t do this and that as one once could.
But all this is a digression. Albeit a very Hausfrau Róisín type digression I do admit.
The reason I am writing this blog posting is in fact something that could help many of the aforementioned complainers.
And indeed others who are too young to be ´doing old´ too.
I write to extol the wonders of heat pads. No not pads with electric bits and bobs, but the ones as shown in the photos below.
They are wonderful. Already in my late 40´s I suffered back pains that would keep me from having a good day, and maybe worse. I had a friend, a college professor whose work involved carrying her lecture papers and test papers etc etc all over the New York Subway system.
I asked if this did not give her back problems. She said it did… until she discovered these heat pads. The are effective up to eight hours, which gives her enough time to get to work and home, before the effects wear off.
And she is right.
They are wonderful.
Do take note of the....
...HARD CORE HEATING OPTION:
You can see in the second photo a picture of a heat pad packaging with a red hot chilli pepper in the top left hand corner. This pad adds hot chilli to the mix. And it is hot!
If the pain is bad this option sort of balances out the pain you experience against the heat of the chilli rubbed on your skin. Obviously this would only be a plan b. But as a plan b, it is a good one I can tell you from personal experience!
So dear readers - young and old, even if you don´t suffer back pain at this time; keep this information in the back of your mind….. You never know when you might need it.
But if you are aching... I for one don´t need to know! Just go buy a heat pad and deal with it! Like the rest of us do.
