The Spider Bite was Too Much

The straw that broke the camel's back.

It pushed me over the edge.

Too much on my plate.

Burnt out. 

Enough. 

Everyone has a threshold for how much they can handle, and a choice idiom or phrase to go with it. 

We all go through times that "test our limits." We have a different amount of straws we can hold, a different distance from the edge, a different plate size, a different candle length. The definition of enough, is different for each of us. 

Enough is defined: as much or as many as required (thank you inter-webs!) And once we've had "enough" anything more is too much. 

For me too much was a spider bite. For a year I've been riding the waves of an Uncle with dementia with the waves ever increasing in strength. I said, "Okay God, I except this challenge."  For a month I've been ringing out the details of being in a car accident, car insurance, the "total" loss of my car, and subsequent car shopping (no, still no replacement car). I said, "It's okay, no one was hurt." (And then pepper on an exciting, challenging, and ever changing work life.)

But then I got the spider bite and I said, "No. This is not okay. THIS is too much." 

The thing is, as we find out limits and we hit enough, we also stretch our limits and learn more about ourselves. The spider bite faded. The dementia and car details continued. But without the spider bite I was back to "enough." 

And then this week I got 10 bug bites on my legs...yes...10. But you know what? This time, it wasn't the straw that broke the camels back, or the thing that pushed me over the edge. This time it was just another thing to be dealt with. 

If Life was a Dream, and it was my dream...

There is power in knowing our own limits and to occasionally push ourselves to them and beyond them. And sometimes the Universe will do that for us. And when it does, it's all about how we react. At any time we can get a spider bite and have an allergic reaction. Stopping to tend to it, take care of it, to address it can mean the difference between simple first aid or a trip to the emergency room. 

Do you know how many straws you can hold? How far you are from the edge? How big your plate is? The length of your candle? Do you know what enough is? 

And what do you do on the other side of the threshold?