<\/p>\n
There’s a delicate balance that must be maintained when you always feel
\nworn out and sick.\u00a0 The trick is to make sure that common ailments
\n– colds, flu – don’t make you feel twice as bad.\u00a0 The first step
\nis psychological:\u00a0 Admit to yourself that you are always
\nexhausted.\u00a0 Come to accept it and consider it a twisted path of
\npunishment visited upon you by some ancient, Polynesian god.<\/p>\n
The Christian god in the modern day has allowed too many outs.
\nThe first mistake was turning the other cheek with Jesus.\u00a0 This
\nshowed weakness.\u00a0 Then, putting the religion in the hands of Man
\ncreated several legal loopholes – all of which are necessary because
\nMankind cannot naturally conform to any religion.\u00a0 We are the
\ndefinition of chaos.\u00a0 Everyone who’s had a relationship with a
\nwoman has realized that.<\/p>\n
It is the Polynesian gods – giants upon extinct volcanoes waving
\nshit-covered phalluses at teenaged women before pushing them to the
\nground and anally raping them – who continue to remain unforgiving and,
\nby our enlightened standards, somewhat unforgivable.\u00a0 Belief in
\nthose gods then gives you true clarity.\u00a0 Pain, loss, suffering and
\nthe day to day grind of your utterly useless life can now be blamed on
\na dark-skinned creature who wears skirts made of grass and swings an
\nimpossible phallus whenever gas is vented from a mountain.<\/p>\n
For those who feel exhausted all the time, short of breath and
\nconstantly tired, the explanation is clear:\u00a0 You have crossed the
\npath of an angry, unreasonable god.\u00a0 Knowing\u00a0 this, whilst
\nyou lie in bed and wonder where your life has gone, is vital if you
\nwish to make it through the cold season.\u00a0 Catching a cold, the flu
\nor any of the modern Linger Bugs is simply part of the overall
\ncurse.\u00a0 That truth allows you to continue through the day with a
\nfull-on head cold yet not actually notice any difference.<\/p>\n
As part of the ongoing need to admit your true condition, it is also
\nimportant to give up any sort of positive front created to conform to
\nsocial situations.\u00a0 While conforming can often be an overwhelming
\nurge, the act of “putting on” good graces simply exacerbates your
\ncondition and opens you up to all sorts of illnesses.\u00a0 It is best
\nto ignore everything around you and walk as if you exist within an
\nimpenetrable sphere.\u00a0 As an exercise in humanity, it is best to
\nmake eye contact with the homeless and the beggars and openly, boldly,
\ndeny them what they’re seeking.\u00a0 In the case of your peers,
\nhowever, always ignore greetings, catcalls and any attempt to get your
\nattention.\u00a0 In certain cases, it might be easy to learn this
\nbehavior.\u00a0 Perhaps you have broken up with a popular significant
\nother yet you are still in a situation where you meet disheartened
\nmutual friends on the street.\u00a0 Perhaps you have been served with
\npapers several times.\u00a0 The latter is going to be your best
\nstarting point whilst training yourself to ignore people.\u00a0 Think
\nto yourself:\u00a0 The person calling your name wants something.
\nIf you acknowledge them in any way, they will serve you papers that
\nwill land you in court and ruin your life forever.<\/p>\n
For city-dwellers, it’s often true.\u00a0 Either that or a call of
\n“Hey, mister,” will be followed up by getting a home made knife rammed
\ninto your gut all for the sake of the seven dollars in your hip
\npocket.\u00a0\u00a0 That hasn’t happened to me, but I have been served
\noutside the Union Station Metro a couple of times.<\/p>\n
The next step can be more difficult, though it eventually becomes a
\nsource of personal amusement and, therefore, spiritual renewal.
\nWhen asked how you are feeling, always reply in the negative.
\nThose who are principled will find this to be a great relief, though it
\nwill not immediately appear to be so.\u00a0 If you try to avoid lying
\nto your fellows, then you’ll rapidly learn that answering the “how are
\nyou” question honestly will eliminate a great, unexamined source of
\nsub-conscious lying.\u00a0 It will be as if you had been in pain your
\nentire life and was not aware that there was something better.<\/p>\n
Answering honestly to the question, though, takes a certain finesse
\nthat can only be practiced in the field, as it were.\u00a0 You must not
\ncomplain and, in fact, you must refuse to provide details of ill health
\nor any related concerns.\u00a0 You are, simply, not doing well.\u00a0 A
\ntongue-in-cheek “terrible” is acceptable, though such alarmist replies
\nmust often be defended, so be ready for opposition.\u00a0 However, if
\nyou’re “not doing well,” most people will retreat if you gently refuse
\nto elaborate.\u00a0 After a certain period of time, they will stop
\nasking after your health.\u00a0 With the alarmist response, this will
\nnot be the case.\u00a0 They will feel challenged if you repeatedly
\nreply that you are terrible, going to die or awful.<\/p>\n
Now you are free of society.\u00a0 You have tuned out the people on the
\nstreet and you have forced your co-workers and friends to actually
\ncommunicate with you instead of parroting a set of socially set phrases
\nand questions that do nothing but weigh down the soul.<\/p>\n
Return, then, to charity.\u00a0 The above-mentioned reaction to the
\nhomeless and the panhandlers.\u00a0 They represent an uncontrollable
\nstreet element and are capable of entering your protective
\nbubble.\u00a0 An excitable encounter could easily throw you in league
\nwith other individuals and, therefore, force you to communicate and
\ncommiserate.\u00a0 The homeless are easily stopped when you meet their
\neyes, though.\u00a0 Look directly at them and they’ll freeze, unused to
\nbeing noticed.\u00a0 This will only last a second before their
\nprofessional training takes hold and they ask you for a handout.
\nIt is here where you use your power word:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Say it
\nclearly, to their face, and do not waver.\u00a0 For the truly
\naggressive, you can make a physical gesture, also indicating no.
\nA dismissive wave of the hand.\u00a0 Again, combined with eye contact,
\nthis will often be enough to derail their tactical minds.<\/p>\n
Occasionally, you will encounter a breed of homeless who aggressively
\npursue.\u00a0 Though this is increasingly taboo in 21st century urban
\nsettings, certain individuals feel empowered by the situation or
\nlocation in which you both find yourselves.\u00a0 These situations are
\nalways unpredictable and impossible to address in a general
\nmanner.\u00a0 Several solutions exist, though they depend on your own
\ndisposition.\u00a0 Sometimes it is acceptable to treat the homeless
\nperson as an ordinary person and ignore them.\u00a0 You can make it a
\nsilent game with yourself to see how far they’ll follow you.
\nOthers will react to a much more aggressive eye contact response where
\nyour dismissive hand gesture turns a bit more violent – point at them
\nwhere you say no.\u00a0 Pointing, of course, is also taboo.\u00a0 It is
\nstrongly suggested that you use the “little patience” point.\u00a0 This
\nis where you press your thumb and forefinger together while closing
\nyour fist and, while keeping your hand close to your own mouth, you
\nclearly enunciate, “No.”\u00a0 Move your hand forward as you say it, as
\nif it is the physical manifestation of the word.\u00a0 Hold eye contact
\nfor several seconds, then arch your eyebrows in the universal gesture
\nof “Are we clear?”<\/p>\n
If you are a woman and nothing else works, then simply employ the
\nassistance of a man – a bouncer, a doorman, a valet.\u00a0 A
\nprofessional is both glad to assist a woman and also unable to follow
\nup with advances or invade your bubble.\u00a0 You can easily be 20
\nyards away before your champion is through dealing with the nuisance
\nand begins to seek gratitude or rewards.<\/p>\n
All of the above combined with simple daily actions such as not
\nanswering the phone or the door will quickly find you in a comfortable<\/p>\n
zone where you can accept your unrelenting pain and exhaustion.
\nTurn off the ringers on your phone.\u00a0 Check for messages in the
\nmorning and in the evening.\u00a0 Disconnect your doorbell and remove
\nany heavy knockers that are in place.\u00a0 Force friends and family to
\ncommunicate exclusively by email, where you can deal with them on your
\nown time.<\/p>\n
You will soon realize that you have removed all of the agitation from
\nyour life.\u00a0 You will find yourself strengthening, making peace
\nwith your exhaustion and uniquely capable of weathering a cold or a
\nbout of the flu quickly, effectively and without any real
\nslowdown.\u00a0 In these modern days of mystery viruses and superflus,
\nyou’ll be healthier than anyone you know even if, like me, you’re sick
\nall the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[352],"tags":[28,353,89],"class_list":["post-2465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gsarchive","tag-chronic-pain","tag-gs-archive-2004-2008","tag-pain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2465"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2858,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465\/revisions\/2858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}