Self-induced headaches.

I'm going to the doctor in a little bit. I feel a bit like I'm approaching the confessional. Just this morning I ended up engaging with someone in a way that did nothing but aggravate me and doubtlessly gave them a sense of smug self-satisfaction.

Here's my new personal checklist that I'm going to strive to consult before I spend time, breath, and heartbeats on heated conversation:

1. Is what I'm about to do going to result in any improvement for me, personally?
2. Is it likely to change anything about the person I'm engaging with?
3. Is it going to make the world a noticeably better place?
4. Could I be doing something else instead that would have a better chance of improving things for myself, others, and/or the world at large?

While I absolutely believe that there are things that are worth fighting for, things that are worth standing up for, and things that need to be said... there is nothing that's worth fruitlessly banging one's head against the wall over. My head's got better things to do.

This just in:

So, the professional opinion of the medical community is that I am not dead. :P

The doctor was pleased to learn that I never add salt to my food and touch butter only on special occasions. She was less pleased to hear of my occasional habit of eating an entire bag of chips and my tendency to treat bags of microwave popcorn as a meal when I realize I've forgotten about real food.

Finger-waggery and small adjustments to my diet aside, I'm supposed to keep doing what I'm doing, generally, with the modifier that I'm supposed to worry less about how much I'm worrying about worrying about things that might get worse if I worry too much about...

Yeah. Vicious cycles are not medically indicated at this point. There were some specific tips on relaxation, but nothing that would surprise anyone.

I'm also supposed to find a high fiber, low sodium breakfast cereal, which is not actually a hardship as I tend to like those kinds of cereals. It's just a matter of keeping them on hand.

The final point is that I should make more regular doctor's visits a habit... only going when I notice I'm sick leaves a lot of room for things to creep up on me.

So that's that, for now.