Boundless Nature's Blog

I took a deep breath…filling my lungs. Simply incredible! Amazing! I can’t find words to describe that feeling as I took that deep breath through my nose.

My nose?! You might be thinking “Well, don’t we all breathe in through the nose?” Yes we do, but my case here is different. You see, I had a minor surgery last week for deviated nasal septum in my nose. I had partially blocked nose for more than 2 months and I was putting it off firstly due to my exams and secondly due to…my fears! But then finally I underwent the surgery last week. The surgery in itself was quite an experience since I was awake and under a local anesthetic. But right now I don’t want to write about that experience so much as I want to share what happened in the week after the surgery and what I learned from that.

For a few moments, press your nostrils with your fingers and breathe in through your mouth. (Doing this is totally optional. Don’t overdo it and don’t forget to breathe through the mouth.) How does it feel? Weird, isn’t it? That’s how I felt for two long days just after my surgery since my nose was packed to allow it to heal, so I had to breathe through the mouth for 48 hours. And it didn’t just feel weird, it was even worse with pain. Every moment I just wanted to tear off everything from over my nose so that I could breathe. Even my teeth and gums became so sensitive that I couldn’t even eat much. I tried not to focus on my nose but the mind kept on reminding me of how I couldn’t breathe through my nose. In fact, every breath in through the mouth was like straining hard to breathe. So I watched mind-boggling shows on the television even though I don’t like watching them much. That certainly put my mind off from thinking about nose and breathing, or so I thought.

2 days later the doctor removed the pack from my nose and it felt quite better even though I still wasn’t able to breathe properly through my nose since there was a splint inside to support the wall of nose. And that splint was to be kept for atleast a week. ‘A week?!! Not again..’ But the week was much better than those 2 horrible days, and it passed quite smoothly. It was yesterday that the splint was finally removed and I got my nose back. lol.

I took a deep breath…filling my lungs. Simply incredible! Amazing! I can’t find words to describe that feeling as I took that deep breath through my nose.

It felt like I never felt before. How important the nose is, yet we mostly move forward in our lives not knowing, not appreciating what we already have. How important the breathing is which keeps us alive, yet we don’t have enough time to breathe deeply n consciously for just a few minutes even when we all know that deep breathing helps us relax from our everyday stresses.

I realized that last whole week has changed a part of me. I confronted not only my fears and frustrations but also my hopes. It was like I was conscious of each and every moment, while watching tv or eating or even walking. And I’m amazed at how our bodies work! Like what would happen if we didn’t have a nose? We would have to breathe in through the mouth. And what if we couldn’t breathe in through the mouth? I mean what would someone like me, who has undergone a surgery, do if we weren’t able to breathe through the mouth?!! These are just some of the thoughts I had during the last week.

They say Life is too short. Who knows.. But one thing is certain- Breathing. Whether we do it unconsciously or consciously, it is going to continue till the last moment of our lives. So why not take a little time out of our busy lives to appreciate it? This is what I have spent my last week- appreciating breathing, appreciating Life.. and Breathing in….Life..! :)