An Unexpected Sting

It was the first day of our family's July 4th vacation and we were walking on the beach — what could be better? Waves crashing, sand between my toes…bee stinger in my foot.

Suddenly I felt a sharp, stinging pain. And it lingered. Ouch.

When I stopped to examine my instep, amidst the sand was a small, but painful, stinger stuck in the most vunerable part of my foot. I wiped away the residual sand and then plucked the offending stinger out.

I was expecting the pain to immediately subside (I had removed the threat) but to my dismay the pain continued and intensified, making it hard to continue walking.

Of course at this point I was at the farthest point from my dwelling. Great. I could stop and wallow in my pain, or keep walking, suffering with every step.

As I winced in pain it occurred to me that there was another option.

I hobbled down to the water and allowed the frigid surf to wash over my wound. This accomplished two things: 1) the chill of the water temporarily numbed the pain and 2) the salt in the water drew out the toxin.

This meant I could walk again without pain. Amazing.

Was I wounded? Sure. But was I out? No way.

Funny the way life works. This incident happened following an extremely stressful time at work and I couldn’t help but find the parallels of the situation.

Days before I had received an unexpected sting from my boss, something “serious” but unfair and political, potentially damaging to my reputation. Not a fun place to find yourself.

At first, I was stunned. Hurt. Could barely move. But I had to. I dealt with the pain, trying to suck it up.

This wasn’t really working as a long-term solution. I needed some help.

Lucky for me, I have a strong network of trusted family and friends. And talking about the situation helped lessen its power over me. It also helped me think through next steps and how I could move away from other potential “stingers.”

You may be minding your own business at work or in life, strolling along when a sudden threat catches you off guard. At first the pain is so intense you don’t know what to do. You struggle to keep moving, but the hurt paralyzes you.

But by allowing yourself to move through the pain to use your resources (sometimes the ones literally right in front of you, whether that be a salty ocean or a network of trusted people to talk you through the “sting”) you can not only bounce back but come out stronger.

Well that, and you’ll have a great story to tell around the bonfire.