I once talked about why I had made the decision to want to lose weight, how it was motivated by my fear of just slumping and dying randomly due to high blood pressure and all that. I also told you guys about how every time I needed to get my blood pressure checked, I always felt this tension in mind that I feel also contributed to the blood pressure readings being high.
Well, what I didn't tell you guys was that when I was at camp, our military commander had made an announcement one day about my platoon, asking anyone who would like to volunteer to play football to step forward. At first, I had refused to join the queue because I honestly had no interest in playing football at camp, but when I realized that joining the queue that day would mean skipping barade, which basically means not having to stand under the sun for hours, I immediately stepped out and joined the rest of the guys.
At first I thought I had outsmarted everyone else, until I looked at the front of the line and realized at the far corner up ahead that everyone who had come out for football was required to undergo some sort of medical test; in this case it meant publicly having your blood pressure checked.
The moment I saw that, I immediately began to panic, because the last thing I wanted was to become the talk of the platoon simply because the readings on the blood pressure machine indicated that I might die soon.
Okay, I know that's me exaggerating things, but I really was scared.
But I had already joined the line, and there clearly was no going back for me as everyone else was busy on the parade group. So I did the only thing I could do; I began the breathe-in and breathe-out practice. That has always worked for me whenever I found myself feeling this much anxiety.
By the time it got to my turn, I had made sure to leave the queue earlier on to go get a place nearby to sit in order to feel relaxed. And when I eventually got my blood pressure checked, I was relieved when the medical practitioner cleared me and told me that I could join the football team.
I ended up not playing for them because I had no interest in it, but knowing that my blood pressure was no longer as bad as it used to be made me feel really good.
