Finding out you are a zebra isn't really as shocking as it might sound, even though it's not something that gradually happens. It's one of those things that happens basically overnight. Seriously. I went to bed one night and I wasn't a zebra. I woke up the next day and I still wasn't a zebra, but by the time I went to bed that night guess what? Yep. Zebra extraordinaire. Okay. I'll explain.... actually, I'll let Wikipedia explain. They do an excellent job:
My doctor, explained this to me on the day that he discovered that I didn't have terminal cancer after all... (yeah, I was diagnosed and even given an expected expiration date. Well.. not an exact date, but the actual wording was: "less than six months", aaaaand that story isn't really all that relevant here except that I got the horse label, rather than the zebra label initially) And since that day I have discovered that those of us who are lucky enough (yep, I said it! I'm so very lucky!) to realize we are zebras have found a kinship/brotherhood/sisterhood/ because of it. A great many of us are proud of our zebra status because we know that by the time we were zebras we had all been changed mentally, physically, and emotionally by whatever diagnosis we got before the one that turned us into zebras. I, for one, am a completely different person from my own journey. I know many others who will readily agree
Maybe you have heard the saying: " What doesn't kill us makes us stronger". I am here to tell you that for me, that is absolute truth. And in the process of "getting stronger" I have learned to look at life and all it holds in a completely different light. I have seen things more clearly than I ever thought possible, I have figured out the meaning of things that weren't important enough to give a second thought to before, but now mean more to me and my happiness than I could have imagined.
None of this rambling means that I know the meaning of life, nor do I have knowledge that will keep me from avoiding death and taxes (the only two unavoidable things in life near as I can tell lol) I won't stay young forever, nor do I have the secrets to wealth and fortune. I just have had the rare experience of being told I had less than six months to live, of looking death square in the face and coming to terms with it on my own, of sitting down with a "Five Wishes" booklet in front of me completing the answers to questions that will dictate the way the last days and hours of my life should play out, and then of hearing the words "It's not cancer, and if you die in the next six months THIS probably isn't going to be to blame. But every one of those things I just listed have already completely changed my life in profound ways. All of this, in my far from humble opinion, has given me the opportunity to share "the way I see life" with people who's stories coincide with mine, or people who ask me how I can find hope in a hopeless situation, and people who wonder how I can see so many blessings through it all. Life has given me a unique perspective, and a desire to share it whenever I can. In the eye of my slightly over inflated ego I've got a unique psychology to share.
And because I like to name things... (& people, & places, give nicknames... you name it) I call it Zebra Psychology.
Zebra is the medical slang for arriving at an exotic medical diagnosis when a more commonplace explanation is more likely.[1] It is shorthand for the aphorism coined in the late 1940s by Dr. Theodore Woodward, professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who instructed his medical interns: "When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras".[2] Since horses are common in Maryland while zebras are relatively rare, logically one could confidently guess that an animal making hoofbeats is probably a horse. By 1960, the aphorism was widely known in medical circles.
My doctor, explained this to me on the day that he discovered that I didn't have terminal cancer after all... (yeah, I was diagnosed and even given an expected expiration date. Well.. not an exact date, but the actual wording was: "less than six months", aaaaand that story isn't really all that relevant here except that I got the horse label, rather than the zebra label initially) And since that day I have discovered that those of us who are lucky enough (yep, I said it! I'm so very lucky!) to realize we are zebras have found a kinship/brotherhood/sisterhood/ because of it. A great many of us are proud of our zebra status because we know that by the time we were zebras we had all been changed mentally, physically, and emotionally by whatever diagnosis we got before the one that turned us into zebras. I, for one, am a completely different person from my own journey. I know many others who will readily agree
Maybe you have heard the saying: " What doesn't kill us makes us stronger". I am here to tell you that for me, that is absolute truth. And in the process of "getting stronger" I have learned to look at life and all it holds in a completely different light. I have seen things more clearly than I ever thought possible, I have figured out the meaning of things that weren't important enough to give a second thought to before, but now mean more to me and my happiness than I could have imagined.
None of this rambling means that I know the meaning of life, nor do I have knowledge that will keep me from avoiding death and taxes (the only two unavoidable things in life near as I can tell lol) I won't stay young forever, nor do I have the secrets to wealth and fortune. I just have had the rare experience of being told I had less than six months to live, of looking death square in the face and coming to terms with it on my own, of sitting down with a "Five Wishes" booklet in front of me completing the answers to questions that will dictate the way the last days and hours of my life should play out, and then of hearing the words "It's not cancer, and if you die in the next six months THIS probably isn't going to be to blame. But every one of those things I just listed have already completely changed my life in profound ways. All of this, in my far from humble opinion, has given me the opportunity to share "the way I see life" with people who's stories coincide with mine, or people who ask me how I can find hope in a hopeless situation, and people who wonder how I can see so many blessings through it all. Life has given me a unique perspective, and a desire to share it whenever I can. In the eye of my slightly over inflated ego I've got a unique psychology to share.
And because I like to name things... (& people, & places, give nicknames... you name it) I call it Zebra Psychology.
So there it is. Zebra Psychology defined. Yes, you should assume that this blog will be silly and whimsical. And sometimes it will be serious and sad, and ticked off and real. I write for many reasons, but possibly the most important is to analyze and deal with the people, places and things in my world as I experience them, and just as often to help those same folks understand me a little better also. I'm not sure why I feel I need to explain this blog's existence, but if you are here reading it's likely that while it's brand new I have invited you to do so, and it is my hope that it somehow speaks to you, blesses you, entertains you, or helps you know who I am. And if it makes you laugh, or scratch your head and wonder what the heck I'm laughing at, trying to say or complaining about, well that's even better.
This is the small print of Zebra Psychology. Welcome to my heart, poured out for your reading pleasure. I Thank you from the top to the bottom of my crazy, nerdy, not right zebra striped heart!
Thanks for stopping by! :)
Thanks for stopping by! :)
