The Face Plant

This week, in my haste to squeeze in too much in one day, I managed to do something I haven't experienced since I was a kid.  I fell down the stairs.  But it wasn't just your average tumble where you grab onto the railing and stop yourself mid-stream.  Oh no.  I was too busy carrying my Jenny Craig pizza in one hand and diet coke in the other to protect my fall.  

Picture the scene.  Me, balancing my yummy pesto pizza, a tall glass of my favorite beverage and a sharp knife while navigating the stairs and subconsciously thinking about all the things I had to accomplish that afternoon.  I made it to the third step and then somehow, my foot slipped and I went flying right along with my food.  The diet coke splattered across the left half of my basement carpet, the mozzarella cheese landed on the bottom step, the knife flew in another direction and I tumbled face first to the ground without having my hands free to break my fall.

For all intents and purposes, I should have broken my ankle, been stabbed through the torso, or blacked out from a mild concussion.  Miraculously, I managed to escape major injury except for a fat lip, a bump on my forehead and nose and some minor bruises on my arms and legs.  Within 10 minutes of my tumble, I had to shake it off and hop in my car to head to an assignment in Manhattan. Still in shock, I grabbed a few chips of ice and a paper towel for my bloody lip and raced out the door.  

When I arrived home a few hours later and had a moment to grab an aspirin, I thought about what had happened to me earlier that day and realized it's time to make some changes in my life or else next time, I won't be so lucky.  Nothing like a face plant to make you painfully aware that you need to slow down.  Or at least not carry a personal sized pizza, steak knife and diet soda while walking down a flight of stairs.