Shocked Into Awareness of My Unawareness
03/30/2006 08:29 p.m.

Today I had a shock when the pharmacist mistakenly gave me the wrong medication and didn’t realize or call me until late afternoon when I had already taken a pill. Luckily, the pill was not harmful though it could have been if I had been taking certain medications or had certain medical conditions.

The shock has nothing to do with the mistake of the pharmacy, which is rather serious, but with my own, which is just as serious. I had noticed that the pills looked different, I had noticed that the amount didn’t seem right, I had looked at the label’s ‘quantity’ amount to make sure it was correct…and yet I had neglected to look .00001 inches above it to see that it was the wrong medication, and in the name of someone else!

Actually, the truth is that I looked but didn’t SEE. I thought I was aware, but the fact is that I was passively aware, and that meant that I was all but aware. My attention was not on the label’s contents, but on the reasons I was busy thinking up for the possible causes of external discrepancy with regards to the pill’s shape, size, and quantity. “Well it must be generic, and well maybe the quantity is what it’s supposed to be.” My mind was so busy looking ‘there’ for presumed causes, that it neglected to look ‘here’ to find the actual causes, though it did believe it WAS HERE. I did break down for a while because I felt the failure so deeply. Already a bit emotional, this was a natural trigger for emotionalism, I suppose.

But there is no going back. In fact, this is a blessing in disguise. You just can’t go back, you can’t go forward, and this is the reminder, the SHOCK. Yes, I was shocked into the awareness of the extent of my unawareness, and I am so happy for this shock. It might just save my LIFE.

P.S. - If you want a really GOOD laugh then ask me what it was they gave me by accident ;-)


I am currently Anxious
I am listening to My Voice