Perspective Differences At The Hospital

Surgery & Suspense: How to Bend Time When Fear Takes Over ⏳✨

Why do five hours feel like five minutes to some and five days to others? In this episode of the Living Lucky® Podcast, we explore the surreal contrast of "surgery day." While Jason "blinked" through a five-hour anesthesia blackout, Jana paced a high-stakes waiting room where every whisper stretched time to its breaking point.

We break down the science of time perception and mindset shifts to help you reclaim agency when you feel powerless. Whether you’re facing a medical procedure or a season of "waiting," learn to quiet the noise and master your internal clock.

In this episode, you will learn to:

• Master Time Perception: Understand why anxiety inflates time while "flow states" compress it.
• Use Humor as a Shield: Why "gallows humor" is a strategic positive thinking tool for stress.
• Audit Your Attention: Shift from "threat scanning" to "purposeful focus" to make minutes fly.

Mindset Nuggets for Navigating Uncertainty:

• Vigilance is a Time-Thief: When the brain scans for threats, seconds feel "sticky." To speed up time, give your mind a mission. (Believe in your circumstances).
• The Agency Reframe: Powerlessness fuels fear. Use tiny rituals—like a specific breathing pattern—to anchor your control. (Believe in yourself).
• Hold the Frequency: When a partner is "out," don't let the room's noise dictate your peace. (Believe in the people around you).
• The System Reboot: Surrender is often the fastest path to healing. Trust the process. (Believe in a higher power).

Stop fighting the clock. Hit play to guide your attention and start Living Lucky® today!

• How to manage waiting room anxiety, surgery recovery mindset, humor as a coping mechanism, shifting from fear to flow, the science of how time flies.
• "Why does time slow down when I'm anxious?" Stress activates the amygdala, causing "threat scanning." This hyper-awareness makes the brain record more memories per second, making time feel significantly longer.
• "How can I make time go faster while waiting?" Engage in a "flow state" activity that requires total focus, such as a puzzle, immersive reading, or complex breathwork. This "unloads" the vigilance loop and compresses time perception.

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The 4 pillars of Living Lucky
Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
Believe in your circumstances and
Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in your favor.

*Previously Recorded

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Scene: Surgery Day
• 0:38 Humor As A Coping Tool
• 2:40 Prep, Protocols, And Pre-Op Jitters
• 5:18 Time Vanishes Under Anesthesia
• 7:15 The Torture Of Waiting
• 10:20 Recovery Ramblings And Costs
• 12:10 Managing Time Perception
• 14:10 Takeaways And Sign-Off

Transcript

Setting The Scene: Surgery Day

Jana Shelfer 0:00

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start Living Lucky®. Good morning. I'm Jana. I'm Jason. And we are Living Lucky®. You are two. We had surgery yesterday. So fun. When I say we, it was actually Jason. That's right.

Jason Shelfer 0:26

We're doing all this. Like when I say uh we won the national or the international, what is it, the world championships. Yes. It was really you out there on the water.

Humor As A Coping Tool

Jana Shelfer 0:34

No, it was a we. That one was a we. Well then we can have surgery. All right. Jason had a I got the anesthesia. A lipoma removed yesterday.

Jason Shelfer 0:44

It was a big one.

Jana Shelfer 0:45

It was a big four by two inch.

Jason Shelfer 0:47

Four inch by two inch by two inch deep.

Jana Shelfer 0:50

Which was right around his belly area. Absolutely. It's like his lower belly. Although he told people he was getting a penis reduction. That's right. Because it was it was kind of like in the area.

Jason Shelfer 1:03

Hard to handle all this. My Poma.

Jana Shelfer 1:08

Actually, I feel like, you know, like I'm always like, my my belly feels bloated. Well, you actually had a reason of why your belly felt bloated.

Jason Shelfer 1:16

And it's hurting a little bit right now, but it was just yesterday that I had this procedure done.

Jana Shelfer 1:21

Which you are recovering very well, I might add.

Jason Shelfer 1:23

I'm giving it my all.

Jana Shelfer 1:25

But there were a lot of feelings that pop up around surgery. Would you say, for instance, the whole morning, I mean, we had to get up extremely early. We had to be there by we had to leave the house by five.

Jason Shelfer 1:42

Yep. And I had to be showered with that anter microbial soap. Yes. Special soap, not just a dial.

Jana Shelfer 1:49

You had to shower twice, which we forgot about this until the day before. So we were searching everywhere for the soap.

Jason Shelfer 1:55

Thank you, CBS.

Jana Shelfer 1:56

And then and then we had to get up early, and you were hungry, you couldn't eat or drink.

Jason Shelfer 2:03

Couldn't have my coffee.

Jana Shelfer 2:04

And of course, you know, the night before at six o'clock, he's like, Yeah, I'm full. I'm good. And then we go to our Toastmaster's meeting. And after Toastmasters, he's like, I'm hungry.

Jason Shelfer 2:13

At 10 o'clock, I was like, Where are the ribs? Where's the buffers?

Prep, Protocols, And Pre-Op Jitters

Jana Shelfer 2:16

I'm like, you can't eat. You can't eat. You have surgery in the morning. So anyway, we get up early, we go to surgery, and everything's good. The mood in the car is good for the most. I do notice though, when you start feeling nervous, your weapon is humor. Humor. It's almost like a coping mechanism.

Jason Shelfer 2:43

Well, you should have been back there in the room with me right while they were prepping me for surgery.

Jana Shelfer 2:48

Tell me more.

Jason Shelfer 2:49

Well, it's so they're just getting data, right?

Jana Shelfer 2:52

Yeah, because this is like another day at the office.

Jason Shelfer 2:54

When's the last time you ate? Do you have any allergies? When's the last time you had water or anything to drink? And like going through the whole rigmarole of all these questions. And I know it's not a time to joke. Like it's a time for to give them accurate data. Yeah. What's your weight, all the stuff, and they've already done it?

Jana Shelfer 3:12

They're just trying to get through their day, Jason.

Jason Shelfer 3:14

So they they're experiencing another day at the office. I'm experiencing these like flashbacks from when my mom would go on vacation or when she would have surgery, and she would say, if anything happens to me.

Jana Shelfer 3:25

Yeah, because oh, you did that to me, right? Right as we're driving.

Jason Shelfer 3:32

Yes.

Jana Shelfer 3:34

Yeah, Jason gets a special haircut yesterday, and he's like, just in case, you know, I'll look good in the castle.

Jason Shelfer 3:41

I don't want you to have to worry about that. There's gonna be plenty of stuff to worry about. I don't want you to have to worry about that.

Jana Shelfer 3:46

And then he wears clean underpants on the way to the hospital, which I hope he would anyway. But he's like, No, I wore my special underpants in case anything happens. And then and then he's like, you know, if anything happens, my passwords to the computer. I'm like, this this is just not putting me at ease.

Jason Shelfer 4:04

Yeah. Well, I wasn't at ease. And I recognized that I was I was trying to be at ease, but also I didn't want, I mean, so you're gonna be in the lobby for five hours.

Jana Shelfer 4:14

I know, which it was the long five hours of my life.

Jason Shelfer 4:18

Silence and and either wonder or worry or or just reading, you know? Like, but either way, in the back of your mind, you're going, should it be taking this long? I'm sure.

Jana Shelfer 4:27

No, I I kept asking the receptionist whose name was Lisa. Like, I was on their little text service. They would say, Listen, Lisa, Lisa, listen, Lisa. Yeah, I'm like, Lisa, Lisa, I got another text. He's in the recovery room. And she's like, it's gonna be another couple hours, hun. I'm like, don't call me hun, and can I at least go back there and hold his hand?

Time Vanishes Under Anesthesia

Jason Shelfer 4:50

Uh yeah, so it was there were a lot of those little things, like, because your reaction or complications or even your allergies can change over time. So there is there is a a potential for worry. Now the chances are so slim. Like, this is one of those things where we we worry about 90% of the things that never happen, right? But because I'm basically getting turned off to the world.

Jana Shelfer 5:18

Like, yeah, you told me that the anesthesia they gave you, the was it propofol or whatever it was.

Jason Shelfer 5:27

It I think I know there was something sulfate or something in it, or I don't know what my you said it literally it was almost like you you left the world, and then when you woke up, it was almost like, okay, are we ready to go into surgery?

Jana Shelfer 5:42

You didn't even know that it felt like it all happened.

Jason Shelfer 5:45

So I'm out for five hours and it felt like zero time had passed. I remember the cart, my my bed being the initiation of the push out the door.

Jana Shelfer 5:56

Okay.

Jason Shelfer 5:56

And I was like, well, when's this stuff gonna like in my mind? I remember that quick thought of, well, when does my wait a minute, guys? Mine is like, I'm like, have they given it to me yet? Or when's it gonna kick in? And like I probably didn't even finish the thought of when's it gonna kick in. And it was like someone had just shut me down, shut the whole lights off, shut everything down, no dreams, no anything. And then five hours later, I wake up.

Jana Shelfer 6:23

You went during that time. Where do you think your mind went?

Jason Shelfer 6:27

You're probably to the Swiss Alps, right? To Kilimanjaro in Africa, you know, it's I don't know, but I was not there's no awareness at all.

Jana Shelfer 6:38

There's no awareness. That's that's the whole thing I want to talk about because for me in the lobby, this awareness was amplified, not only amplified, it was torturous. It was torturous to where I couldn't get comfortable, I was cold, I was next time.

Jason Shelfer 7:00

I'll just tell you that I'm going to a meeting, it's probably gonna take me about five and a half hours, and then I'll call you and not tell you that I'm going out of surgery.

The Torture Of Waiting

Jana Shelfer 7:07

I mean, I even took a heating blanket and a pillow because I I had anticipated, yeah, and I tried to lay down on this little bench, and I could hear it was all it was weird. I could hear the buzzing of the lights, I could hear almost every conversation that was happening around me. It was like my senses were amplified by a thousand.

Jason Shelfer 7:37

That's crazy.

Jana Shelfer 7:38

It no, it was almost like I was a bug. It it felt like I had become a bug. It almost felt like you had become nothing. A nothing, a cloud, yeah, right? And it was just a blip.

Jason Shelfer 7:53

Yeah. So I was like, Time had passed, and you felt like it was a whole day in there. And then you had other people in the uh what is what do they call it? The waiting room that were waiting for surgery or wit waiting for someone to come out of surgery that were complaining, like, why do I have to be here so early? Like all the things that I might have thought, but since I was the first on the on the list in the morning, I got all that explained to me immediately. So that was nice.

Jana Shelfer 8:21

That was a that was a benefit because this old man came in, and I'm telling you, he had no filter. So every thought that was going through his mind was just coming out.

Jason Shelfer 8:35

Maybe I went into him.

Jana Shelfer 8:37

Maybe because sometimes I don't have a filter, and he's like, I don't understand why I had to be here at six o'clock. It's 620. My surgery's not so thirsty. I'm so thirsty. I just want a cup of coffee. If only I could have a cup of coffee.

Jason Shelfer 8:54

Let me tell you what, I laid in that bed for probably 25, 30 minutes when I wasn't occupied by someone asking me questions or or the prodding or the poking. They washed me.

Jana Shelfer 9:06

They washed you again?

Jason Shelfer 9:08

Yeah, they had these rags where I had to stand up, take my shirt off, and and the nurses washed me. Like they really like that.

Jana Shelfer 9:17

That sounds like a coming to America moment.

Jason Shelfer 9:19

I was like, how do I get more? How do I get this at home? Like, save me. And it was quick. It was quick. It was like a wipe down, it was like almost like what we might call a horse bath.

Jana Shelfer 9:28

Oh can I say that? Okay, yeah, there you go.

Jason Shelfer 9:31

But where you go in, you get a wet rag, and you just kind of wipe yourself off because you don't have time for a shower. Well, they use these antiseptic wipes, big thick ones, like a it was like a washcloth in a bag or in a container. Took them out, wiped me down from basically. I need to get some of those earlobes to toe creases.

Jana Shelfer 9:50

Okay.

Jason Shelfer 9:50

And it was, I was like, I need someone to bathe me. Like this made it so easy, and my hair's not wet.

Jana Shelfer 9:59

This is gonna be unhappy. I don't have to wait manifestation for it.

Jason Shelfer 10:02

I don't have to wait two minutes for my hair to dry.

Jana Shelfer 10:04

Or even two minutes for the hot water to get warm.

Jason Shelfer 10:07

Right. I'm sure that those things are more expensive than the hot water. I bet that'll be a $5,000 bill on the hospital.

Recovery Ramblings And Costs

Jana Shelfer 10:15

Um, yeah, okay. I will say, as you were coming out of anesthesia, am I even saying that right? I don't know. Anesthesia. That word is kind of a crazy word. I will say you started rambling about the craziest things. And you often become that curmudgeon.

Jason Shelfer 10:34

Cost conscious.

Jana Shelfer 10:35

You do. You kind of become the problem.

Jason Shelfer 10:37

I'm surprised I didn't just rail on the healthcare system and the insurance companies. Okay.

Jana Shelfer 10:41

You did. I don't remember all that, but yes, you were like you so they made you blow into one of these these the inhaler-exhaler machine.

Jason Shelfer 10:52

That whatever that thing sent home with me, that's probably another little $5,000 piece of the bigger.

Jana Shelfer 10:56

And you go, you go, Janna.

Jason Shelfer 10:58

That's what you because I came in and you were look at this that I gotta take home with me like a trophy.

Jana Shelfer 11:03

No, you didn't say that. You said, you need to get one of these eight thousand dollar machines.

Jason Shelfer 11:09

It's not even a machine, it's just it's a plastic, like asthma type thing that you actually suck in instead of blow out, which I tried to blow out because I've had these things, the breathometer, yes, where you blow it out, but they're like, no, you gotta inhale this much air and hold it and keep inhaling. And I was like, Well, there's only so much. There's only so much I can breathe in.

Jana Shelfer 11:30

I guess what I really want to point out is that we had the exact same space time, same space, uh same circumstance in a way, and yet we had such a different experience experience, and mostly the time lapse, the the perception of how time.

Jason Shelfer 12:00

I was I must have been like really in the flow.

Managing Time Perception

Jana Shelfer 12:03

Right? Because sometimes in life, you know, for me, it was the most excruciating five hours. It felt like five days, and it felt like, oh my gosh. And I I couldn't get comfortable.

Jason Shelfer 12:18

I I was so comfortable.

Jana Shelfer 12:20

I couldn't find anything to read, I couldn't find anything to watch, I couldn't find anybody to talk to.

Jason Shelfer 12:26

There was nothing that was gonna take that time, take that off your mind.

Jana Shelfer 12:30

I kept looking at the time and it felt like, oh my gosh, 30 seconds has passed.

Jason Shelfer 12:36

Well, that was so that was me last night trying to sleep.

Jana Shelfer 12:39

Right?

Jason Shelfer 12:40

I was I I got a lot of rest and recovery yesterday after surgery. And last night, I was looking at the clock, like I even I closed my eyes intentionally, tried my trick of counting backwards from 500 and breathing in on a on a number, out on a number.

Jana Shelfer 12:58

Okay.

Jason Shelfer 12:58

So a very healthy way to fall asleep, and I got to zero.

Jana Shelfer 13:03

Oh, you went all the way through. I went all the way through.

Jason Shelfer 13:05

I usually get to like maybe 400. Yes. Maybe, but it's usually just trying to quiet my brain and allowing it to just go go rest. Yes. And last night wasn't having any of that. So I got all the way to zero, then the theater needed to go. But so how are we managing our time and our perception of the time? And that's that's a good, I think that's a healthy question to just explore and be curious about.

Jana Shelfer 13:32

Yeah, whereas you, I mean, you literally came out of out of surgery and you're like, are we ready for this thing?

Jason Shelfer 13:39

Is it are we ready to go? Am I about to get my anesthesia? And they're like, You're done, sir. You've got 30 minutes to be out of that bed and be back with your wife.

Jana Shelfer 13:47

Isn't that crazy?

Takeaways And Sign-Off

Jason Shelfer 13:48

Yeah, so my time was managed for me in that situation. I didn't have to really do anything, it was medically induced. But it did bring that huge perspective when we were able to just kind of talk about your experience of the waiting room, the gentleman waiting for surgery's experience in the waiting room with his wife. And the difference in me feeling like I didn't miss anything, just time was gone.

Jana Shelfer 14:13

So I guess my question is do you feel that we have the power to slow the perception of time at what? Or increase the perception of time at will.

Jason Shelfer 14:27

Yeah, I do. And I think that's about kind of if we're very aligned with what we're doing and we're excited about it, we increase it. So you were I don't want to say it wasn't an alignment of you being there, because that was very much an alignment. However, it's it wasn't anything, it was it would be hard to get excited about that experience other than the fact that we were gonna find out the information, right? But then when you're waiting on information and and I felt powerless. I felt powerless and I felt that's a bit at the whim of so I'm betting that if they had a place for you to do a jigsaw puzzle, your own jigsaw puzzle, your the time would have gone a lot quicker for you because it would have taken you out of that what's happening, what's yeah.

Jana Shelfer 15:15

I I did meditate several times.

Jason Shelfer 15:19

Like, when will this or what's happening there? Yeah, you know, so it was like I think when you're constantly getting bumped in and out of the present, yes, you're going to, and you don't have anything to do in the present, you're gonna experience that this is lasting forever.

Jana Shelfer 15:36

Well, I am so glad that you are okay. Me too. And I'm glad that you had that penis reduction because I know it was so hard for you to button those penis.

Jason Shelfer 15:45

I know, it's just hard to fit it all in there. So hard to fit in. It was not a penis reduction.

Jana Shelfer 15:51

Thanks for joining us.

Jason Shelfer 15:52

Keep Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer 15:53

Bye bye. If the idea of Living Lucky® appeals to you, visit us at LivingLucky.com.