life less frightening

It's natural that there's anxiety and apprehension associated with going out to eat when you're a heart patient and generally maintain a strict, low sodium diet. Restaurant food is often loaded with seasoning - meaning ridiculously high in sodium - and it's somewhat uncomfortable to ask for food to be prepared in a special way (I get that if I'm eating out I'm paying for their service and they should be happy to accommodate my needs, but people who give me that lecture obviously don't get that it's not exactly a good time to be outing myself as having a heart condition to a server I met five minutes ago).

However, all that being said, and be that as it may - just cause I sometimes get a little transition crazy - it's nice to be reminded that I can afford to relax at times. I don't eat out often - I'm somewhat of homebody, I like to cook and I'm far from wealthy. And I am generally very strict with my low sodium diet. So when I do decide to venture to a restaurant or happen to be on vacation, I don't have to fret overloading myself with salt. More often than not, there are sufficient low sodium options on a menu, and a little bit of salt isn't going to kill me.

The point of this post is really just to remind myself of all this. It's easy to associate every little ache and pain with my heart condition, but it's also lunacy to do so. I used to be so casual and relaxed that a friend would jokingly ask if I had a pulse. Now, it's probably in my best interest to stop worrying so much if I do.