I did something tonight that contributes to make me feel usefull. This is a big part of feeling that I wouldn’t regret anything if I only had 5 minutes left to live. I gave some of my blood.

The thing is that it could happen everyone to need blood in ones life. An accident, a birthgiving, an operation and I think that when it happens, you cannot plan it. It took about 3 minutes to fill in the questionnary, 5 minutes to talk with a nurse, 15 minutes to give blood and 15 minutes to sit with a friend (we have blood-donation-date) and eat a sandwich afterwards. Also 38 minutes max to make a difference.

According to the US Red Cross, the number one reason donors say they give blood is because they “want to help others”. I am not that original actually. And two most common reasons cited by poeple who don’t give blood are “Never thought about it” and “I don’t like needles”.

Let’s kill this.

Never thought about it – You just have read of it now, with this post, so you can’t blame on that

I don’t like needles– Ok. I understand. This is also the reason why I waited so long (29 years!!!) to give blood. I am not a fanatic of getting stuck but honestly, when I don’t look at it and don’t think of it that much, the 15 minutes I spend on the couche there are mostly relaxing actually. And if you don’t try, you will not know how it R E A L L Y feels. And it feels good.

Once, I tried to run just after a donation and it was ok but not by quickest run on my list. But this was idiotical. You don’t need to make big prestations all the time, so no excuses like “euh, I can’t because I have to do sport” or whatever. It may even be a good occasion to offer yourself a good treatment (or let you someone offer you a good treatment) with a good dinner, a film watching evening or a nap in the middle of the day. I don’t feel specially tired after a donation, but it may be a good excuse: when my blood is in a little bag, I already made the prestation, so I can relax!

If you are living in Sweden you will find information on how giving blood on this site: http://geblod.nu/ Go there, read a little and make a step: go and give it a try!