What my doctor told me, and what I said back
Friends,
My doctor told me I should relax more. The problem, she assured me, is not that I have high blood pressure or an aggressive cancer or any other particularly worrying health issue — “apart from those expected of someone my age.”
“My age?” I asked.
“You’ll be 80 in June,” she said. “So you should take it easier.”
She doesn’t like it that I work as hard as I do. “You’re writing at least one — what is it called? Substack — every day, I hear. Sometimes two. And putting out videos. And promoting a movie and your new book. And giving talks.”
I copped a plea to it all.
“It’s too much. You need to relax more,” she said.
“I feel okay,” I assured her.
“Have you considered meditation? Long walks? Dancing? Gardening?” she asked.
“I like what I do.”
“You’re spending too much time at your computer,” she said. “It’s bad for your neck and shoulders. Bad for your back. You’ll get arthritis in your hands.”
“I already have arthritis in my hands.”
“See?” she said. We seemed to be in some sort of contest.
My doctor is a wonderful person. She’s also very wise. But she’s less than half my age. She doesn’t remember Senator Joe McCarthy. She was born after Nixon was in the White House. Maybe she doesn’t understand the urgency of the moment.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Sorry about what?”
“I’m sorry that I’m not going to take your advice,” I told her.
“Why not?” she asked, impatiently.
“Because Donald Trump is 10 days older than I am,” I almost shouted. “And if he can cause this much mayhem every day, for this country and the world, the least I can do is cause a bit of good trouble for him.”
She laughed, bless her, but she still wasn’t convinced.
That’s okay. I’m going to continue writing this Substack to you every day, and sending you the videos I do with my young associates, and maybe even write another book or do another movie.
It’s the least I can do. We’re in a national emergency. It’s my small way of fortifying you for what you’re going through. And thanking you for your activism.
I had two equal and opposite reactions: “please listen to your doctor, we need you here for the long haul,” and “yeah, I get it… some of us can’t sit this moment out without losing our minds.” You’ve turned your worry into work, your age into witness, and your keyboard into a little factory of good trouble, and that matters more than you know to folks trying to stay sane and engaged. Just promise us you’ll pace yourself the way you keep telling America to pace its outrage: steady, grounded, and built to last. www.xplisset.com
Also, doing what one can is more soothing than not doing so. I am grateful that you can do so much, and set to with a will.