Monday, November 28, 2011

Small But Not Insignificant

After a long and well traveled Thanksgiving weekend, I’m in the first couple hours of work and I’m getting reacquainted with the monotony of office life.

At first I was sort of depressed, and to be perfectly clear, I won’t disagree with you that no matter how busy our office gets, every day generally repeats itself. That’s the nature of being a designer, staring at a computer, sitting, eating lunch twenty feet from my desk and listening to stories about crazy clients and “hot” projects.

After an hour at work I started to feel a little different. I found myself noticing little changes around me. The toilet paper roll in the bathroom was on backwards, my “special” red pen was just laying out on my desk, I was invited to the daily meeting for the “higher-ups.” I can read off a dozen small, seemingly insignificant changes.

My point is, although I feel that design has been falling off my radar in the last couple of years, it may help me on a day-to-day basis to notice and be grateful for the small things in life.

I haven’t had a full seizure since July (where I lose consciousness), only auras. The VNS seems to be doing it’s job. I’ve had a vocal outlet for some of my concerns and ideas beyond this blog and I know now that talking and writing is hitting the nail on the head for me emotionally. I also believe it’s helping me better communicate to doctors, co-workers, friends and family; even strangers.

The phrase for today is “the little things;” petting and holding a small pet, looking into my wife’s eyes, listening to my heart beat during the last few seconds before I slip into sleep. There are a lot of complicated words in life, but if I can simplify things as best as I can, I believe my head will clear and I can fight any depression, any anger, any uncertainties, and any illness.