My older daughter was born early. 3 months early. She weighed in at a whopping 2 lbs. 5 oz. – a decent birth weight for that age. 
Even so, my finger was bigger around than her calf.
I had never been around preemies before, so I learned a LOT over the next months.
I discovered that:
- Preemies aren’t as scary as I initially thought they were. And they don’t break. Thank goodness.
- You have to reshape their ears pretty often. The cartilage isn’t developed enough to hold its shape. (This can be a little entertaining sometimes, especially if you’re low on sleep, which you are if you have a preemie.)
- Even when they’re that little, they can be pretty feisty. You wouldn’t think that a baby who weighs 2 1/2 pounds and can barely move could pull out a feeding tube, would you? And certainly not over and over and over.
These things seemed so important at one time, but they’ve really faded into the distance now. I’m sure there’s a ton I’ve forgotten, and that’s okay.
One thing still comes to mind periodically, though – my daughter’s diagnosis of ROP (retinopathy of prematurity).
As a baby develops, the blood vessels in the eyes grow outward from the optic nerve to cover and nourish the retina. In babies born at term, this has already happened.
It’s one of the many things preemies are still working on for their first few months.
If a preemie develops ROP, it means that the blood vessels aren’t growing out across the retina. Instead, they’re growing in a circle. Just around and around. If they don’t spread out, the retina will detach, causing permanent blindness.
Sometimes, we humans live in an ROP-like state.
These are the times where you’re spinning in a circle with thoughts like, “I’m not good enough”, “I can’t do this” and “This’ll never work.” When you do everything EXCEPT what’s on your to-do list.
These are the times when you feel detached from others and the bigger vision of yourself and your life.
I think of this as “emotional ROP”.
When we were on the verge of looking at surgical options for Bri, I began using a gentle energy technique called Reiki on her eyes. Within a week her ROP was gone.
I have learned that energy techniques are also highly effective with emotional ROP. They stop the spinning and allow healthy movement outward and a broader focus.
When you’re spinning like that, it feels like you’re disconnected from the outside world. The truth, though, is that you’ve become disconnected from yourself.
Clearing those fears and thoughts at the energetic level, where they’re rooted, allows you to quickly be centered again in your connection with yourself.
This reconnection allows your attention, your creativity, your brilliance and your productivity to flow outward again into your business, your relationships and your life.
It allows YOU to be YOU
and move out more into the world.
So if you find yourself in an emotional ROP spin, try to keep the following mind:
- It’s okay. These happen to all of us at times.
- You don’t have to stay in it. There are other options.
- Getting help can make a world of difference.
- Once you’re out of the spin, you’ll feel better than you thought was even possible.
So take a deep breath.
I know how real all of those fears and thoughts can seem, and I KNOW that this is something you’re experiencing, it isn’t who you are.
If you think I might be the person you’d like to get help from, just click here to set up a complimentary Connection Call and let’s see if we’re a good fit.
As always, your comments are welcome below.