I guess sometimes having things get harder is what kicks someone out of their rut. That’s what happened to me this weekend. Everything can get worse, but in some situations that is just what the doctor ordered.

This weekend our daughter came down with the swine flu (or H1N1 if you’re concerned about offending the pigs). I’m not joking or being fascecious, it was full on intense fluness of the pig variety. I won’t go into all the gory details, but I will say that it was very good that she didn’t need to be hospitalized. As I lay on the couch this weekend with her sweaty little head in the crook of my arm, not daring to move even as the unborn child in my womb pummeled my bladder, I realized that if I can deal with this, then the other stuff isn’t such a big deal.

My work schedule is extremely flexible, and really is a set of simple tasks with a little creativity splashed in around the edges. I can do pretty much everything that I need to in 15 minute chunks with lots of snack breaks. This fact was made glaringly obvious because it’s not at all what works when caring for a sick kid. That’s a stressful situation that no amount of setting the timer will remedy.

So anyhow, I seem to have quelled the “I can’t” bug for now, and swine flu girl is feeling much better too. Her fever has subsided, and so has the screaming (I understand why young kids scream while they are sick, but I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it). She still has a cough and a case of the grumps, but we’re working on it. Luckily, my grumps have mostly subsided, and I’m no longer contemplating early retirement from the career world.

Am I some sort of weirdo that things getting worse changed my attitude? Does this ever happen to you?