This week’s new adventures

So, my voice kind of totally ran away from me this week. It basically became non-existent and trying to talk made me cough and gag, and that’s never any good. Therefore, the lovely nurse practitioner at the clinic told me I had to go on “vocal rest” and that I shouldn’t talk for at least 2 days.

First of all, going on “vocal rest” makes you feel like a diva. I kept pausing to type things out on the notepad on my iPhone and hand it to mother to read . All I could think about was the overly dramatic music majors in college that would go on rest to prevent nodes from growing on their throat. They usually made sure everybody knew about it and carried dry erase boards with them to communicate. One girl even went about in a wheel chair, which we never quite were able to connect to the vocal nodes.

After leaving the clinic, I was faced with the challenge of really wanting some Taco Casa tea. Thankfully, my mom was there, but the combination of her unfamiliarity with the menu and her leaning across me to yell into the speaker meant that our order was wrong. And they gave me a Diet Coke instead of a Half & Half tea and they insisted that it was a tea, and that my diabetic mother had really wanted sweet tea, and then had to make 2 additional drinks before it was all figured out. My attempts to communicate were totally futile in this situation.

Then, there were other moments, like having friends call (that you really wanted to talk to!) and just having to stare at my phone because there really was no point in trying to answer it. I also realized that not talking removes some of the meaningful parts of day-to-day relationship. For example, when I was watching television and my dad was playing on his computer, I couldn’t tell him random stories or ask how his day had been. We just did our own thing.

Despite this, I learned that it’s probably a good idea for me to go on self-imposed vocal rest every now and then. I really do use far more words than I have to, give long and confusing answers to questions, and say random things to fill up the space. While I try to convince myself that these are charming attributes, they are not always necessary or useful.

On top of being silent, I also came in to work yesterday with almost no makeup on. A thin layer of foundation and mascara only! And I’m not wearing much more today! Granted, this didn’t feel all that dramatic since I hadn’t work makeup since last Saturday anyway. I also recommend you try this every once in a while. Yeah, I’m pale as all get out, but I feel kind of free.

Photo credit: http://worshipfan.net/2009/08/silence/