swatches

And so it happened, that a couple of random questions from two people - one, a good friend, and the other a stranger - had set off something that totally shook me up. And made me rethink my priorities. In one (long) weekend, what had always been so important to me had suddenly become a source of aggravation, and, I must admit, I had no one to blame but myself.

A asked over dinner, mildly amused, condescending perhaps (being the ultimate troll himself, he never has any empathy to those who get overly-agitated), taunting maybe -

"Do you ever relax?"
"Why, do I look so agitated now?"

And all three of my dinnermates nodded yes.

The next afternoon, the GP administering the APE, after asking a series of questions that were supposed to give her an idea about my medical history, my lifestyle, and my psychological well-being, asked -

"So what do you do to de-stress?"

Caught off-guard by what should've been a totally innocuous question, I stared blankly at her, before answering lamely, "Nothing."