A slip and a fall…and I am out of action and laid up in bed with forced rest for a month….one whole month….so easy for the doctor to say – You have fractured your tailbone. Please take these painkillers and muscle relaxants for a week. You will have to take complete bed rest for a month at least.

From an active homemaker and writer, always on the move, I went to being a “lying down all the time” lady. From having everybody else in the family depending on me, I was suddenly dependent on them. It is extremely difficult to manage – when one gets used to managing the house and related activities, abruptly to have to just sit back and not be involved properly in any activity at home. My budding freelance writing career too was on hold, albeit temporarily.

Passing the time was tough…All I could do was read and watch television. Reading seemed a better option than watching TV, mainly because the kind of trash shown on television these days only seemed to increase the pain in my back. I must have read around 10 books in this period – Shantaram, The Inheritance of Loss, Vertigo, The witch of Portobello, To kill a mockingbird(re-read), Fountainhead(re-re-re-re-read), to name a few. This was in addition to reading 3 national dailies and the magazines like Reader’s digest, Filmfare and Femina.

The worst part is the medicines which turned me into a zombie…took me a month later on to recover from the side effects of all the painkillers and muscle relaxants. I used to feel irritated and depressed also, meditation and forced positive thinking came to my rescue.

Now after more than two months, I have resumed normal activities – like a normal person –taking care of daughter, home and hearth, driving, regular walking, Also back to my writing work – including blogging.

This whole period made me realize the simple truth which we tend to overlook in the daily rush of life – everything that we have –love, life, money, friendships, relationships…everything can just vanish…poof!!! in an instant. What I went through was just some time of bed rest, fortunately I was not hurt too badly, but it takes only the fraction of a millisecond for something life-shattering to happen.

So, take some advice from me – cherish your life, health, love, relationships. The present is what you have – enjoy it, spend time with loved ones, do at least a few things that you like doing…you never know what can happen at any time, at any place.