I woke up early this morning from a burning headache last night. The first thing I realized was being buried in thick blankets when I was supposed to be wrapping up calls in the office. That jolted me up from bed.
I went through last night's events in haze. I remember my kuya waking me up twice to get ready for work. I remember texting-in sick to my boss while half-asleep and half-awake. I remember mama asking me money for her medicine but I was just too knocked out from a pounding headache.
As I was changing my HMO password online this morning, I thought about mom if she was able to buy her meds last night. I remember calling her from the doctor's clinic earlier that day because I needed my HMO card number but I left my card at home. I flashed an uneasy smile at the receptionist who was doodling around the appointment list, ready to put an X on my name while I waited for mama to get out of bed and find my HMO card.
But Mama couldn't muster the strength to get out of bed because she's been having sleep disorder lately. I toyed with the idea that last night she must've understood what it felt like waking up someone especially a sick person that she didn't press me further for money even though she herself badly needs to buy her meds.
That made me realize something important I had to type it before I lose it.
Everyone knows the Nazis or the ampatuans. There's also the Mean girls in school or the politicians in the office; the nosy relatives and the backstabber neighbors.
You do not need to identify who the enemies are because they are flagrantly attacking you or your loved-ones. But this we know, in the face of the enemies, your family or your team becomes solidly one. A fierce protectiveness swells up and a course of action is planned or even taken at once to protect your family.
That's pretty much how it works.
These are big enemies, threatening yourself and your loved-ones but I realized that little enemies can be as deadly. Especially those invisible ones.
We all have invisible, little enemies. They lurk around your household, nudge invisibly in your friendship and one day even explodes unannounced in a relationship. They are faceless, nameless little ones that the victims would sometimes not be even aware that they exist even after the relationship already crumbled.
Little enemies that if not exposed may slowly break down the fortresses of your relationship.
I am going to dare name a few in some of my relationships.
Sleep - everyone lately seems to be deprived of sleep, that if it's so much as disrupted, all hell would break loose. And if it does, sleep becomes more precious than your loved-one you once swore you'd take the bullet for. The one who disturbs your sleep suddenly becomes the enemy and gets the overbearing treatment.
Internet - can blind you from what really matters on that particular day in that particular moment. Suddenly, without you realizing it, the need to go online feels like a priority. A sister making lambing to watch movies na lang gets a soft sarcasm.
The "pampasira-sa-plan" friend - everyone's excited on a supposedly fool-proof plan but here comes the friend who is late or who suddenly shows up without the discussed gift. So the invisible enemy slowly attacks the moods.
The get-together was first served a cold treatment for appetizers.
The consumer relative - before, he is a family. But when he loses his job and does nothing but to take and take, he's slowly forming into a nuisance. The invisible enemy starts to work around your impulses to give, your mental what-i've-given-him-already list, your complaint list, etc.
I do not have a cure or techniques or solution for this because I'm not a pro. But I wanna drive this thought home with this: Identifying who are your real enemies provides a better line of defense.
After all, if we're protective of our loved-ones when big enemies attack, these invisible little enemies should also be dealt with. The relationship needs to be defended from them as well.
Where's the best place to start drawing your defenses from?
Go back to the basics: Jesus' precepts. The only precept whose bottom line is love.
