Thought Ripples: Catching Your Breath

Courtesy of BJ Jones Photography

How does one catch one’s breath? What does it take to accomplish the feat? Silly questions, some would say, but are they?

A year or so ago, I experienced an epiphany of sorts—an odd one perhaps—but startling nonetheless. I have no clear recollection of what exactly I was doing at the time, but I became aware that I was holding my breath for no apparent reason. It startled me because I was actively doing something physical at the time.

Question marks flew through my mind. The only one that mattered was at the end of “Why on earth would I hold my breath?”

Since that day, repeats of that behavior have been noted on a regular basis, though no clues to a reason have come forth. When I became ill on vacation and ended up in the hospital, breathing became a huge consideration in my day. Several times throughout the day and night, someone would come in to see how much oxygen my body was retaining in the blood.

Their little pulse-ox meter got a workout from my index finger. Anytime it registered below 90, the dial on the oxygen flow got turned up a notch. When the doctor talked to me before I went home, he told me that he was prescribing home oxygen for three months. That one declaration opened more than my eyes and insurance wallet.

A sudden red flag zipped up my mental flagpole and left me more than breathless. That question mark appeared again after the words, will I have to be on oxygen forever?

The verdict came back with, until you can retrain your lungs to breathe deeply enough consistently, you will need the extra oxygen. Three months should be enough time to do the retraining you need if you follow the regimen.

Considering how aware I’ve always been of others who carried around their portable oxy-tanks and wore a cannula all the time, the thought being a passenger in that boat put determination in my heart and deep breathing on my agenda. Each day is filled with deep breathing, and I’m happy to know that the practice is making a difference.

Yet, I keep thinking about that little phrase, “catching your breath.” People use it to mean so many things.

Most of the time it connotes pausing long enough for a breath and a rethink of what’s going on in that moment, or it’s used when someone has been exerting themselves to the point of needing a rest break/cool down, literally to catch one’s breath, The degree of meaning depends on circumstances.

Beyond that colloquialism is a literal meaning that few think about.

How does one catch a breath? And doesn’t it always have to be released? So what’s the point in performing that act? Is it like the catch and release process as in fishing? And if you can catch a breath and keep it, where would you store it?

Nonsense, you say. No one would really ask those questions. That’s probably quite true, but then you have to ask why the phrase ever became so prevalent. Even young children seem to know instinctively what it means without explanation. One of these days when I have more time to devote to such things, I’m going to find out where the phrase began and what its original meaning was. I’ll bet it was different back then than it is now.