Don’t Take If Allergic

This is from my weekly email series, The Weekly Mixtape. I would appreciate it if you subscribe to newsletter, even though based on experience you won’t. And seriously, you’re missing out.

Hey Indiepreneurs.

With all the streaming options currently available, I’ve managed to avoid watching commercials since the football season ended. But there’s this one show I’ve gotten hooked on, and to watch it, I have to watch the commericals.

Between the birth control ads and the overpriced real estate apps, one ad made me laugh. It was for Nurtec, a migraine medicine that my wife has become fond of these past few months. During the required legal disclosures, the voice over warned the viewer “not to take Nurtec if you’re allergic to Nurtec.”

Well, duh. Who would do something so dumb? Right?

But then I started overthinking it, as I am wont to do. My wife has gone through basically every migraine medicine ever made, and the only non-injection medicine that has consistently pushed the migraines away is Nurtec. There were times where she was so desperate she would have taken ANYTHING to make the pain go away. What’s an allergic reaction compared to the entire left side of your body radiating pain for a month straight?

(Side note: thank goodness for vain rich women who discovered that Botox made them both not be able to lift their eyebrows AND prevented their migraine)

When we see no other way forward, we’ll often turn to things that are bad for us. Maybe that’s Nurtec despite being allergic to it. Maybe it’s stress eating, which has yet to ever reduce my stress in the long run. Or maybe it’s staying in a bad situation because we can’t imagine any other way forward.

Life can be extremely complex, and sometimes we are legitimately in situations outside of our control. But sometimes we’ve convinced ourselves that, to quote the Mandalorian, this is the way, to the point that we are blind to alternatives.

I’ve been in that latter situation before. I’ve been in a place where despite being constantly pressed down, it seemed like I had no other options. It was like I was allergic to the Nurtec but kept letting that chalky tab dissolve in my mouth.

But then each time, with just a little bit of faith and a whole lot of trepidation, I decided to choose another route. And each time, things have been a little better.

If something isn’t going well in your life, I’d encourage you open up to alternatives. Just thinking about them doesn’t mean you have to take them. For some things, it may be that your really are stuck. Like I mentioned last week when talking about Designing Your Life, you could be facing a “gravity problem.” If that’s the case, it’s not a problem at all, it’s just part of life.

But it could be that you are taking that pill that you’re allergic to, and there’s really another option that could make your life better.

The Links

• Speaking of Designing Your Life, check out my book review.
• I’m not saying, “You can do it!” without giving you any help. Because, as our guest blogger discussed last week, that can be toxic.
• If you haven’t tried Outer Wilds, it’s super weird…and really good. I’m excited about this expansion coming out soon.

Service Dog Update

Wilson is still supposed to be taking it easy as he recovers from surgery, but clearly nobody told him. He’s starting to get really bored stuck in the house all day, which is leading to some less than ideal behavior. He’s still a good dog, but we’re getting a lot more barking at shadows…since that’s apparently what he does when he’s not allowed to go ride the Farris Wheel with us anymore (picture above is of Wilson in the Big Wheel).

Speaking of amusement parks, we left Wilson behind when we went to the water park the other day. We have season passes, and we thought it would be fun to take a quick trip. So we showed up, went around the lazy river once, then got kicked out of the park due to lighting concerns. There was hardly a cloud in the sky.

When we got home, Wilson was bouncing off the walls, so I took him out for a walk. I was still in my swimsuit at the time, which turned out to be a good thing: I got maybe four blocks from the house before the the skies opened up and dropped down on us in apocalyptic proportions. I was more soaked by the time I got home than I had been after our time at the water park.

Wilson was soaked through, too, but he took it in stride. He actually seemed happier about getting out and getting wet than being stuck inside with the Cone of Shame hanging around his neck.