I left school after teaching a homeopathy class the other day and there was a wasp on the window of the door of my car. I was very careful not to disturb it as I opened the door and got in, I thought it would blow away as I started to drive.
I only drove about 15 mph down the little service road and it was clearly not fast enough as that little wasp continued to hang on. Soon, I was headed down the main road at 35 mph and still, my passenger was on board. I started to smile thinking about that little wasp hanging on in the face of what must have been tropical force winds to it’s little body.
I started to worry that it would wait to let go until I was driving 45 or 50 and then it would get smashed into a windshield behind me. So I started to open and close the window a bit to shake it loose, of course swerving all over the road because I was watching the wasp and not where I was going…and before I knew it, I was getting on the interstate.
55, 60 , 65, 70 still that little one hung on, for TWENTY minutes at 75 mph, that wasp hung on, now surely it was experiencing hurricane force winds, and then, finally, just as I was approaching my exit, it let go.
Tenacity – that’s what it was. And I started thinking about what it must take for folks really struggling with a chronic illness – changing diet, changing lifestyle, changing thoughts and patterns, learning to live in a new way – it takes that kind of tenacity…and I have a renewed respect and understanding for how difficult the journey must be.