This morning I was walking my daughter to school when I felt a sharp pain in my big toe. It felt like something was stabbing into the bottom of my toe. I ignored it. Assumed it would go away on it’s own. And continued walking to school.
The pain did not go away.
After getting my daughter to school I went straight to work. After that I had to pick up groceries. Then back to school to get my daughter.
The pain did not improve. We moved on to post-school activities. Dinner.
My medical brain started to worry. Why does my toe feel like it’s being stabbed? Is it gout? That runs in my family. Arthritis? In my toe? Weird, but possible, I guess. Some strange vascular thing? A nerve thing? A blister? A rash? Ugh, to all of it.
Finally, at the end of the day, once the dishes were done, the kids were in bed, the house was quiet. I took off my sock and looked at my toe. Time to face the music.
Sigh.
It turns out the reason I felt a stabbing pain in my big toe all day was because… something was stabbing it all day. A small splinter was in the middle of the pad of my big toe.
I quickly removed the offending piece of wood. Stabbing pain resolved. Humph.
If I were my own best friend I might be a tad bit frustrated with myself. You write a blog about being your own best friend and you couldn’t take 2 minutes to take off your shoe and sock today to check your toe?!?! Instead you limped around with stabbing pain all day and assumed it was just another indignity of getting older. What the heck? Can we do a little better, perhaps?
And speaking of better… did it ever cross your mind that maybe you felt stabbing pain in your toe because something was stabbing it? Not because of some mysterious chronic condition. Not because of some long-term, can’t be cured ailment. Sometimes the simple answer is the right answer.
Lessons learned today:
- Pause. Take two minutes to care for yourself when you need to.
- Simple answers are sometimes the right answers. Don’t overthink it.
- Learn from your failures. Improve. Tomorrow is a fresh start.
If I were my own best friend... 
I love your honesty in this blog and the way you show how and why we all can learn to be more present, diminishing worry about the future which is so often an unfounded story we tell ourselves. Another excellent blog thanks Rachel!