Hoppin’ Pain Killers
Amphibious Aspirin
Most people — present company included — don't enjoy experiencing pain. We try to avoid it, but sometimes our efforts are in vain, forcing us to seek ways to ease it. When it comes to relieving physical pain, most people resort to traditional pain killers, like Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, maybe even Oxycodone. Some of us, however, turn to amphibians.
Recently an 82-year-old Chinese woman swallowed eight live frogs to relieve her back pain. Years of suffering from a herniated disc drove her to consider an old folk remedy, so one day she swallowed three little frogs — then chased them with five more the next day. I get drastic times call for drastic measures, but this is toadally ridiculous.
Days after swallowing swamp things like shots of Don Julio, the woman developed intense stomach pain that left her unable to walk. After being rushed to the hospital, doctors determined that upon landing in their new swamp, Jeremiah and them poor frogs had released the Kraken — the Sparganum tapeworm — which damaged her digestive track.
Fortunately, the woman didn't croak, unlike the frogs. In fact, she made a full recovery after two weeks of treatment and was advised to seek traditional pain relief remedies in the future. Maybe next time she'll reach for a heating pad instead of a lily pad.
Under the Microscope
It’s easy to shake our heads in disbelief and characterize the old lady who swallowed the frog (to catch the fly) as foolish, but she was just desperate. When something feels painful or uncomfortable, our instinct is to do something — anything — to make it stop. At work, that desperation can show up as micromanagement.
When managers hover over tasks, rewrite drafts, or ask for just one more update, it's usually rooted in a fear of failing, being judged based on your work, or just plain losing control of the team. Desperate to maintain that control, they tighten their grip and resort to "swallowing frogs" — implementing short-term fixes that eventually make things worse.
Being micromanaged is as frustrating as plunging your bare foot down onto a Lego brick for the fifty-eleventh time in a dark hallway on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The psychological pain makes you wanna scream and lash out at the culprit, but you know that’d make next week’s one-on-one real awkward. So you swallow that rage instead.
If you live life under a manager's microscope long enough, your self-confidence and self-esteem eventually erode, and that often leads to unintended mistakes, which then leads to heightened scrutiny of your work. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. It's a vicious cycle that's more exhausting than battling rude drivers while trying to exit a roundabout after five attempts.
When you find yourself under the paralyzing suffocation of Micro Man (or Woman), consider the following mindful strategies to maintain — or regain — your sanity:
Practice Micro-mindfulness
When you get that "Just checking in..." message, pause before reacting. Take a breath, unclench your jaw, loosen your shoulders, then ask yourself, "What's the smallest, calmest next step I can take right now?"
Communicate Calm Clarity
Reduce tension by communicating status before it's requested. Summarize meetings, proactively send short updates, ask clarifying questions. Mindful communication isn’t about people-pleasing — it’s about creating psychological safety so both of you can exhale.
Make Your Reliability Visible
Micromanagement fades with trust, and trust builds through consistency. Work diligently to meet deadlines and communicate early if something’s off track. Doing so essentially trains them to see you as low-risk — which lowers their instinct to hover.
Protect Your Emotional Bandwidth
Don't let your manager's internal chaos disrupt your mental frequency. When the over-controlling becomes overbearing, remember that their management style is not a verdict on your competence. Believe in your capabilities, not their insecurities.
Micromanagers thrive on motion — checking, rechecking, hovering — but you don’t have to get caught in their current. The most mindful way to handle one isn’t to fight for control, it’s to model calm instead of mirror chaos.
So when their anxiety starts hopping around your inbox, don’t swallow the frogs. Just breathe and let your steady rhythm do the persuading.
