Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to save your symptoms for the doctor. Try
Speaker 1: not to let medical updates dominate your conversations with friends
Speaker 1: and family. Yes, we all have aging bodies and health issues,
Speaker 1: but fascinating as our issues might be to us, they
Speaker 1: probably aren't that interesting to anyone else. So I know
Speaker 1: of a woman in her eighties who used to say
Speaker 1: she wasn't interested in an organ recital. She didn't like
Speaker 1: to hang around with people who spent most of the
Speaker 1: conversation updating her on their various health issues. That is,
Speaker 1: a recitation of what was wrong with their various organs
Speaker 1: and such. I love that phrase now. Personally, I love
Speaker 1: a literal organ recital. I love listening to a good
Speaker 1: bach prelude on a church organ. But I agree that
Speaker 1: the medical complaint kind of organ recital isn't as appealing now.
Speaker 1: Of course, if you are dealing with a new diagnosis
Speaker 1: that is a big part of your daily life, the
Speaker 1: people who love you are going to want an update.
Speaker 1: But I am talking lamenting the usual aches and pains
Speaker 1: and less serious stuff. As someone who dealt with approximately
Speaker 1: six months of rather serious back pain and all the
Speaker 1: associated attempts at treatments. I know I could have talked
Speaker 1: about this for hours, but I also quickly realized no
Speaker 1: one wanted to hear about it for hours, maybe two
Speaker 1: to three minutes max. Then was time to talk about
Speaker 1: something else. So if you, likewise are of a certain
Speaker 1: age where health ailments start to feature prominently in all conversations,
Speaker 1: maybe you can find ways to move on after a
Speaker 1: few minutes. Definitely note if you yourself have been talking
Speaker 1: about something at length, if you realize you have been
Speaker 1: talking about your digestive issues for ten minutes, you can say, laughingly,
Speaker 1: that's enough of my organ recital. I just saw a movie.
Speaker 1: I think you'd love pivot to a new conversation topic.
Speaker 1: Self awareness is a blessing here. Now. Obviously this is
Speaker 1: a little more complicated. If your friend is the one
Speaker 1: who has been giving a lengthy account of her ailments,
Speaker 1: you could ask whether she has talked with her doctor
Speaker 1: about them, which is obviously a productive way to get
Speaker 1: help with symptoms. If it seems like the list of
Speaker 1: symptoms is more emotionally laden, you could ask about these
Speaker 1: emotions how are you feeling about all this? Nudge the
Speaker 1: conversation into deeper, more relational territory. If she is just
Speaker 1: sharing the physical complaints to make conversation, you might be
Speaker 1: able to shift the conversation in a different direction. For instance,
Speaker 1: if she's talking about how time on the bleachers is
Speaker 1: bad for people with bad backs, you might ask about
Speaker 1: her kid's soccer season and nudge the discussion that way.
Speaker 1: As for the organ recital, let this episode be a
Speaker 1: nudge to go see if you can do anything about
Speaker 1: any chronic issues that are affecting you. Go see your
Speaker 1: doctor and see if you can come up with a
Speaker 1: plan that's going to be more productive than listing your
Speaker 1: ailments with anyone else. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.