Confession: I HATE having blood drawn. HATE it. My ears go all fuzzy, my knees go weak, I get all lightheaded - and that's just when I have a vial or two drawn at the doctor's office. Just the thought of filling up an entire bag makes me queasy.
Well, right when I came into work this morning, one of my buddies invited me to sign up for the Red Cross blood drive next Wednesday - there was still one open slot around the same time a bunch of my favorite folks from our department were donating. My kneejerk reaction was to laugh - "you do know I have a ridiculously hard time getting blood drawn, right?" (I honestly thought I was being teased - somehow I thought we'd had this conversation before.)
And then one of my really good friends piped in that she's grateful for blood donors. Her comment cut me to the core - she wouldn't be alive today, were it not for donors, nor would her baby girl. A few minutes later, another coworker told me that he was kept alive for 28 days, thanks to blood donors. I had no idea, but he's a leukemia survivor.
So I marched right upstairs to HR and signed up before anyone else could snake the spot with my group. And, no joke, I got a little lightheaded and weak-kneed just doing that much! But I don't really have an excuse to not help out, especially when a guy in my ward is in the hospital right now, fighting for his life. How vapid and selfish is it to hold out just because of some silly psychosomatic response? This year is all about stretching past my comfort zone anyways, right?
Thank goodness I have a week to psych myself up into it. How do you best go about conquering your fears?
1 comment:
I've never donated blood and I never will. The hospital doesn't donate supplies for my business, why would I give them something free that they turn around and sell? Blood tranfusions are not free. And there is PLENTY of extra blood in the hospital as it is. Just my 2c.
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