Samantha
is sick. She's been having plenty of sickness symptoms, stuff she otherwise couldn't have found out about if not for her annual physical check-up. She's very health conscious and diligent in having check-ups not just with her HMO, but with her personal doctors, yet, she's in the hospital right now, about to undergo surgery. She always says that she's an old lady (at 26, hello!) and her body's not what it used to be but I honestly think that it's the stress she regularly submits herself to that caused all these sicknesses. You see, she's an achiever and wouldn't settle for anything less than the most perfect result she could possibly have -- which is good to a certain extent. She pushes herself really hard and her bosses are happy, but apparently, her body is complaining already. Now that her body is telling her to slow down, she's more stressed because the doctor's diagnosis scares her. I don't think she really knows how to handle stress and I also don't think that she's aware that she's stressed. I always tell her to slow down and not to take things too seriously but clearly, she doesn't know how to do that. Sigh. I'm just sad that one of my closest friends is in a great deal of physical (and psychological) suffering.