Look Mum, I’m a Viking!

How to Get a Grip

Over the last five years, my ring finger and little finger on my right hand have gone a little … quirky. 

The upside of Dupuytren’s contracture is that it’s sometimes called Viking Disease. It allows me to  imagine my ancestors sailing frozen seas, discovering North America, and causing chaos for the British. Admittedly, not much of an upside.

By the time you’re reading this, I’ll have had an operation to tidy things up. If you’re OK with TMI, they’ll cut open the hand in a zig-zap pattern (Harry Potter scar incoming!) and scrape back the thickened tendons that are causing my fingers to curl over and become increasingly useless. (You have no idea how many typos my right hand currently generates.)

They say six weeks of rehab or so. It will be quite exciting to finally get a proper grip on things.

Here are three ways to hold things.

Tightly: For the things that matter most and that you don’t want to lose.

Like you’re holding a small bird: A container, but not one that crushes or squeezes too tightly.. For things that matter, connections and commitments you want to have but that are essentially beyond your control.

Not at all: For the burdens that have come with you this far and that now you can let go of.

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