Not Every Itch Needs To Be Scratched

Scratching an itchy bit is so satisfying.

Recently, I made the decision to start regularly seeing an acupuncturist for wellness. It’s a weird new thing I’m trying – being proactive about my health rather than fixing something once it’s gone wrong.

She had just closed the door behind herself, leaving me mostly naked, and stuck all over with burning needles, when my nose got an intense itch. Major, gotta-itch-it-now kinda itch.

When I went for it – my thumb, hand, and arm reminded me it’s best to lay still when needles are shifting your chi – or whatever wellness thing they were doing. So I sat (laid) with the itch. I noticed it, sent it some love, and had a dawning realization – a bit of wisdom from the needles.

Not every itch needs to be scratched.

Not that podcast I have been noodling about creating. Not all the SEO plans people have pitched me. Not that creative writing class, learning Spanish, and not the myriad “screen-free activities to do with your kids.”

As a person who loves to scratch an itch and try every new thing that crosses my path – this realization that I don’t need to and can’t participate in every single thing, felt a bit sad. AND THEN, the needles provided me with a second gift of wisdom. This song popped into my mind.

From the day we arrive on the planet
And, blinking, step into the sun
There’s more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
There’s far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round

It’s the circle of life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
‘Til we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the circle
The circle of life

There is too much to take in – we can’t do it all. We weren’t meant to. We can find our place – and there is so much peace and joy in that.

You don’t have to scratch every itch.

Wellness.

Are there itchy bits you can let be itchy?

ou can do anything, but not everything.
David Allen

More is not necessarily better. Sometimes it’s just more.
Barbara Benedek

Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
Socrates