"It Ain't Easy Being Awesome"

"You are really tight...really tight. And so I'll help easy some of that tension by loosening you up."

It has come down to this, 30 plus countries by the time I was 28 and countless awe inspiring moments to only be talked at by a strange Chiropractor like some cheesy 70s porno.

In a moment of desperation and 10 years of growing medical problems and a phobia of doctors I broke down and went to a chiropractor today. As I sat in his trendy 3rd floor office suite, I felt like an outsider. In my converse, ratty jeans, thrift store top and manically frizzy red hair I could not have felt more out of place in his crisp and clean modern office. I stared at his abstract art with confusion and listed off the several ailments I had been experiencing over the years. With each newly documented ailment my chiropractors' face twitched.

"Now Miss R. what is the cause of these problems," The doctor monotone voice wafted over my strayed nerves.

"Traveling." I admitted with a sigh.

"Traveling?...No I mean what specific thing caused these problems."My Doctor repeated.

"Traveling.... My body is falling apart because of traveling." I then proceeded to go through each one of my injuries one by one. "My toe happened in Honduras, my foot in Italy, my knee in New Zealand, my back...well technically from carrying my bag thousands of miles over 30 plus different countries," and so on and so on. "So Doc. I am broken because of traveling."

I left the doctors office an hour latter feeling like a limp noodle, a noodle who felt compelled to share this odd experience with a friend. They seemed just as shocked at my seeing a chiropractor as the chiropractor himself and so I found myself being asked the same question "Why and How?" and I responded with the same short reply I had given my doctor just minutes before..."Traveling."


His response was one I had not expected. My friend replied with “It ain’t easy being awesome.” And then proceeded to send me a link to this video:

The video I cant really explain other than to say it is a work of animated cinematic genius. The "Awesome" comment on the other hand, now that got me thinking. It is really tough to be awesome (I mean if I define awesome by the description of one who has been in awe and seen awe inspiring things). For instance, I easily look 5 years older than I actually am, my once thick beautiful ginger curly locks now have the consistency of a bag of half eaten brown straw,  I have had at least 3 broken bones, 2 surgeries, cuts, stings, bruises, scars, parasites, weight gain, weight loss, and emotional scars to last me a life time. My body is a fucking battle ground. Some days I mentally go through my travel scars out of amusement. 

With all this said I sometimes forget that the things I have been through are not normal. Talking to my Filipina roommate, who massages gold onto her skin daily and sleeps on a bed of swan feathers and broken hearts, I have realized that my life is her worst nightmare. "You mean you sleep on sheets that are not at least 1000ct?” If she only knew about the Hungarian Hospital...

Hitch hiking on the side of a road with cast and crutches on a daily basis was and IS my reality just like cracking backs is to my Chiropractor or shopping for high end jewelry and sugar daddy's is for my Filipina roommate. Its my normal and even though my normal has left me battered and bruised I wouldn’t have it any other way...that is until my doctor comes at me with a needle. As the Filipina says, “Back off bitch!"