One of my lifelong fears has been the fear of donating blood. I know that donating blood is a good thing, but the thought of blood coming out of my body terrifies me. Many years ago my sisters life was saved on more than one occasion because people donated blood, I am grateful for those people who were willing to donate. Each time my sister's life was saved I would think to myself, "Someday I will donate blood." I thought that if I donated blood I would be giving back to those to helped my sister.
Each time a blood drive was had, I would think to myself "I'm glad I can't donate my blood because I don't weigh enough." I would then look at all the people around me who had donated and think, "Man, they are so brave."
Then one day the blood bank came to my work. It was a really slow day at work and they told us that we didn't have to clock out to donate. I sat at my desk for hours thinking, "I really don't have an excuse to not donate my blood, I weigh enough." "Maybe I should donate." "Are you kidding? You are going to try and donate blood! You are so small, you will surely pass out." As I wrested with these thoughts and self doubts my heart raced--I could donate blood, I should donate my blood.
One of my co-workers told me that if I donated blood that she would too. I immediately started thinking, "If we both donate, then we could save more lives. Okay, I can do this."
I text Andy and he came to my work and donated blood with me. When they took me back to check my vitals I secretly hoped they would tell me that I was anemic and couldn't donate but luck was not my side. I was then asked how much I weighed and I told them. They didn't seem to believe me and had me step on the scale, I barely made the weight requirement.
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| Andy donating blood. |
Next thing I knew I was sitting in "the chair" the one that I had feared sitting in my entire life. It hurt a little bit when the needle went in, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. About five minutes later, I was done. I could not believe it, I was in shock and awe. I had just donated blood. I didn't pass out. It didn't hurt. I just saved someone life. I overcame my fear. I immediately thought, "I could do that again, it wasn't so bad."
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| "The Chair' |
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| Looking at my veins. |
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| Getting ready. |
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| Iodine. |
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| Time to face my fear. |
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| Donating. |
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| All done. I did it. |
If you have never donated blood before, give it a try. Just be prepared to be really tired afterward. I was surprised by how tired I was, I was not expecting to be that drained.
I have decided that I am no longer going to live in fear, I plan on facing as many of my fears as I can in 2014.
Later that night we drove up to Salt Lake to see The Forgotten Carols. Neither one of us had seen The Forgotten Carols before and had no idea what to expect. All I will say is that the show was amazing! If you ever have the opportunity to go see The Forgotten Carols, I strongly suggest see it. Everything about the show was wonderful, it was so moving and powerful.
