Gen X’er Living With a Gen Z Immune System
For the last several months, my body has had consecutive infections that have invaded and disrupted my life. Everything from thyroid levels to pinkeye.
As you might imagine … it’s been A LOT.
During a conversation with my oncologist about it, I wondered why I keep getting these minor illnesses. He said that my immune system is so busy fighting cancer that it can forget to fight other routine infections. I replied with, “Oh, so my immune system is distracted?!”
He laughed and said yes, that was a good way to describe it.
That got me thinking. My medical team and I have given my immune system the tools to fight Stage 4 breast cancer for 20 months. And my immune system has been doing well!
That said, that doesn’t leave a lot of energy to fight off other infections.
In other words, my immune system cannot multitask effectively.
Then I realized … neither can we!
The Multitasking Myth
I am a member of Gen X. I was all about glam rock, grunge rock, big hair, and neon clothes in my teens! Then I went to college and was introduced to my first computer in a class, and, to me, that was the coolest invention since jelly shoes (iykyk).
Once I got into my 20s, the Internet was invented. All of a sudden, we had nearly unlimited access to information about anything we could think of. We had email that allowed us to communicate with anyone in the world. For the first time, multitasking was a real, tangible skill that we needed to manage our lives. We needed to be able to email, surf the web, talk on the phone, and cook dinner while the kids were running around the house.
And I got pretty good at it!
Or so I thought.
Looking back now, after spending over 30 years in the customer service industry and almost two years of living with a life-altering disease, I have come to the conclusion that multitasking is NOT a badge of honor to be worn. It’s also not a real and effective way to live my life. If I am doing one or two things at a time, it’s reasonable to expect successful results from those efforts.
Trying to do three or more things at one time is simply setting myself up for failure. Just like my immune system, there will always be one or two things that I can do well. Spreading myself too thin will result in none of the work being done well.
When I was working as a manager in financial services, I would usually end up with MORE unfinished tasks at the end of the day than I had completed. I was trying to do more than I reasonably could, and instead of shining at community involvement and being a star manager, everything was suffering.
I have decided to give my body some grace and allow it to accept help from antibiotics, eye drops, and vitamins rather than be angry with it. After all, it truly has been doing exceptionally well at preventing cancer from spreading.
That is THE most important thing I can ask of it.
I will take naps and vitamins for the rest!
Weekly Challenge
I’m sure that this week’s subject hits close to home for many of you. We are constantly being told that if we don’t multitask, we are not good enough for society.
Or for our career. Or for our family.
STOP. Figure out what it is you are truly good at, and delegate or free yourself from the other things. Are you a good cook? Take over the dinner responsibilities. Are you a good organizer? Then outline the event and hand off the details to someone whose gift meets those requirements. Are you a dreamer? Then share your dream with people who can help make it a reality with you.
Go forth and be exceptional in ALL you do!
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Photo credit: Macy Alex Photography
