How I survived donating blood...when the real fear was all in my head!!

A few weeks ago I had my birthday in which I turned 31. As Kyle and I ventured off for our fun weekend I declared that this year would be my YOLO year. I wanted to do things this year that I have always been afraid to do or to try and live life to the fullest. You only have one life to live and I am not getting any younger so I figured why not.

I had a friend that messaged me and asked to donate blood. Now anyone who knows me knows that I am terrified of needles and so the thought of donating blood has always made me sweat a little.

I told him yes (mostly because I couldn’t come up with a good enough excuse) and as the day approached, I could feel myself getting more and more nervous. I set it up over my lunch hour and Kyle told me to make sure that I ate a good breakfast and got a little something before we went in.

Now a little back story, the past two times that Kyle has donated he has passed out so I was already worried that that would be me. I ate a good breakfast, had some apple sauce and cheese around 10:30, and then Kyle made me a half turkey sandwich before ventured to the donation bank.

I was so nervous as we got there and I could feel my hands shaking just filling out the paperwork. They took me, pricked my finger to test my blood, and told me I was good to go. They sat me in a chair and of course I turned my head so I couldn’t see her stick the needle in. I knew for sure as soon as she did, I would pass out.

She gave me a stress ball to squeeze and told me to squeeze it about every 5 seconds. I sat there focusing on anything but what was happening and talked with the nurses. After about 5 minutes she announced that I was done and pulled the needle out. She got it all wrapped up, handed me my free t-shirt, and told me to enjoy the rest of my day.

I giggled when I got in the car with Kyle because I had hyped this entire thing up in my head only to find out that it was super painless, it was so rewarding in the best of ways. I was able to give something that will help someone somewhere and I got cookies and juice.

So to all of you out there who have debated about donating or not, just do it; even if it’s only one time. Try it out and see because it’s so very important to have good blood donors and it is so very selfless and rewarding. Plus…it could all be just something scary in your head.

Join me on more of my YOLO adventures this year as I take on some more fun and interesting things. This is bound to be an amazing year!!