Rx: New Love!

Have you ever been prescribed 'Love'? Yes, i am serious. Ever?
Well, ever since i have been, my husband forbade me to visit the same doctor again, and my friends have been asking me about the doctor's contact details!

It is not what it looks like really...precisely why they said, "Don’t judge a book by its cover." But still, when
I went to consult the Orthopaedic for a nagging neck pain; all he prescribed me for relief was a 'New Love'!
One look at my neck, and without an X-ray he said, "It is a spasm, some stiffness, some knots in the muscle there...do you work?"
I wondered, as i always do when someone asks me that question, if my Freelance work really counts as 'work'. In the end, i just said, "Freelance".
"Hmmm...” i think he too wondered whether to consider it as serious work or a time-pass fascination of a housewife! Nevertheless, he continued, "I think you just need to find a new love..."
My mind did not wait for him to finish. It went in overdrive and started racing...
"New love? Is he mad? Not that i would mind being the centre of the universe once again, not that i would mind receiving all those lovely notes and attention, not that i would mind looking forward to meeting someone everyday........." i think i was smiling at that point, "but wait!!!!!", i heard the brakes, "i am not a young, single woman anymore", that was my head talking now, "I have a husband, kids, a home....as much as the idea of love is tempting, it is just not worth it! I am very happy with what i have been blessed with...thank you very much!"
Yes, i had made up my mind. Thankfully, before I opened my mouth to reprimand the doctor, i heard him say, "Find a group activity. Join a gym, an art class, anything- anything that will make you meet more people...it is just stress!"
"Oh! Stress!” i thought, "when i was working i had stress, when i am not working i have stress..."
"I didn’t know stress can cause all this...” i said to the doctor.
"Oh yes, stress can manifest itself in many ways other than BP or heart conditions...."

As I left the clinic, i walked home that 30-minute walk, thanking God that it was still not too hot to walk. On my way, everyone i saw seemed okay as far as stress is concerned. People in their cars, nannies pushing the prams, gardeners rushing on their bicycles, and various service providers entering and exiting the communities en route. I wondered if they were happier doing what they were doing, or happier just because they were doing something? I wondered if a 'coffee morning' was more de-stressing or having a coffee on your way to work? I wondered if too much work was stressful or doing nothing all day long. Who is not stressed really? The unmarried are stressed because they want to get married, the married  have their own stress, the divorced are under stress becuase they want a new companion, the kids are strssed out because they are kids and have to go by their parents' and teachers' ways, the elderly are stressed because their younger generation does not 'listen to them' anymore, the boss is stressed and stresses the suordinates- exactly, who is NOT stressed?
I am sure this prescription will work for just about everyone, as long as it is not taken literally!
For me, I have concluded that I need to push myself out of my cocoon every morning, count my blessings, work the work that makes me happy and focus on the goodness of life.
And yes, my husband also changed his mind about the doctor after listening to the whole advice!