Timely, Not Urgent (A Healing Human Idea)

This week’s episode is a little different.  

Instead of my usual stream of consciousness conversation that expands on an idea in every direction, I wanted to experiment with something much more concise.

So I present to you the first of hopefully many Healing Human Idea pieces.  

The full text is below, and the podcast contains the audio form.

Return back to this one as many times as you need to reset your pace in this over-urgent healthcare system.

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Timely, Not Urgent 
(a healing human idea)

URGENT!! screams the prescription request
As it pops into my inbox
Bold and proud
A breaking news headline
To request a refill of a medication
That the patient has taken every day 
For the past decade

URGENT!! shoots a firebolt of adrenaline
Down my arms, into my fingers
That start to tremble with the impulse
To abandon the patient I was about to see
Or the staff member who needs support
Or all the other prescription requests
That have patiently waited their turn
For my attention

I suppose that was the strategy
Behind the pharmacy writing URGENT!!
So boldly on this particular request.
But it does beg the question:
If even this can be called URGENT!!
Surely we’ve lost our grip on the meaning of the word

And the more pressing question I need to ask
On behalf of my sweet, fragile, overloaded nervous system:
If everything is URGENT!!
How am I meant to respond
With any kind of speediness 
To the mountain of URGENT!! requests I receive
Considering I only have
The one human form
With which to work

It can feel a little hopeless
And certainly overwhelming
To ever hope to free myself 
From all the URGENT!!s that continue to pile up 
As I frantically flit from task to task
Like a deranged hummingbird
As if I am the only pollinator left
In the whole of the forest

On the darkest days, 
The tidal wave of resentment
Threatens to drown me
As I silently fume 
At all these people
Laying claim to
My mind
My body
My energy
My time
Screaming that their lives must take priority 
Over my own

Everyone else gets to mark their request URGENT!!
Meanwhile 
My joy
My peace
My dreams
Gather dust in a corner
Awaiting the day when no URGENT!! requests
Push me off course once again

And.
On this day.
I take a deep breath
And am soothed to remember
That URGENT!! doesn’t mean dangerous most of the time
And all of our bodies
Are quite resilient
Even if our minds keeping forgetting

I consider the difference between 
Clinical and emotional urgency
And how often these URGENT!! requests 
Are actually the latter
Where their nerves are screaming 
That the world is ending
And yet their hearts and lungs and other vital organs
Are actually still engaged
In their most beautiful dance
Conspiring together towards 
Their ongoing existence on this earth

As a human who offers care to others 
During times of distress,
I may have a response to that emotional urgency
A caring word
A kind, steady voice
A thoughtful next step
But it need not be driven by desperate, rushed, 
URGENT!! action
In fact, offering a rooted, slow response to such frantic alarm
Is often an important part of the healing 

Certainly there are times 
When the bodies themselves
Are genuinely ringing
An alarm bell of distress
And in those moments
A titrated, focused, urgent response is required
Even then
When time is of the essence
A sense of panic and rushedness
Actually does not serve

And so I repeat to myself:
Timely, not urgent
Timely, not urgent
Timely, not urgent
Over and over again

An antidote to all the pressure and panic
Received inside and out
To jolt from task to task
To bolt from room to room
To rushrushrush|rushrushrush|rushrushrush
Each moment of each hour of each day

“Timely, not urgent” speaks to the notion
That each task needs its own space
In which to be done
And even if 
There are many tasks 
On my list
The only thing 
To do
Still
Is
One
Thing
At
A
Time

And every task not tended to 
Even those self-proclaimed URGENT!! ones
Are capable of waiting
For another day
Another time
Another person, even,
To see them to their end.

All I can offer is my own timely response
One thing after another
Until my time 
For this day
Is complete