Day 723: What’s been going on?

Yesterday, in my therapy office, people discussed going to gatherings for the Christmas holiday, where friends and family would probably be asking them

What’s been going on?

or some other form of that question.

As we discussed that likely question, there was concern about how to answer it and how others might respond to the answers.

I hear that a lot — concern about reactions from others, regarding what people have or have not been doing with their lives. Those concerns usually heighten when holidays, reunions, and other social gatherings are going on.

Yesterday, we discussed and expanded the possible answers for the question

What’s been going on?

to include these:

Besides realizing there were many possible ways to respond to that question (including several not shown above), it also helped to realize that

• other people’s reactions don’t matter as much as we fear,
• other people often are more interested in telling you what’s going on with them (than judging what’s going on with you), and
• you can answer “What’s been going on?” however you choose.

Regular readers of my blog might be wondering

what’s been going on

with me, after I took a cardiac stress test yesterday.  I suppose I could respond with one of the answers listed above, but instead I’ll tell you that

• I don’t have any new information to report and
• I met some new people who had things going on with them, yesterday, including:

Al, whom I met in the parking lot of Tufts Medical Center before my stress test, and who told me  he

1. has been wearing hats like that for 30 years,
2. owns many varieties of them, in 13 colors, and
3. always wears one when he goes to the hospital.

Al definitely has a lot going on, don’t you think?

I also met Jason

a cardiology fellow who was conducting my stress test. After the stress test, Jason looked at my record  to see what’s been going on with me, and said, “I see that you’ll be consulting with Dr. Michael Landzberg next month.”  As I  told you so here yesterday, there’s been a lot going on in my life regarding this Michael Landzberg (even before I’ve met him), since Dr. Landzberg is THE expert on people with unusual hearts like mine. I wasn’t surprised, at all, that Jason knew Dr. Landzberg, since that level of Landzbergian recognition has been going on a lot, lately.

However, I didn’t really know what was going on at that point, because  Jason then said,

He’s my father-in-law.

What’s been going on, with all these friggin’ coincidences?

What’s been going on here, visually, has included Al, Jason, and a third man, too:

  

Yesterday afternoon, when I met with my supervisor, Lynda, at work, she asked me

What’s been going on?

and when she heard all that’s been going on with me lately, she said,

It’s too bad you don’t have ten days off during this time, to relax.

No matter what’s been going on with me, I love — and am sustained by — my work, providing individual and group therapy to people who have a lot going on with them.  I’m doing fine, dealing with what’s been going on with me.

What’s been going on with you?

Finally, here’s what’s (been) going on, according to a late and great musical artist:

Many thanks to Al, Jason, Santa, Dr. Landzberg, Lynda, Marvin Gaye, and all those who are doing their best to deal with what’s been going on with them, including you, of course!