Blog: You know, we drift through life, congratulating ourselves for getting it right while so many others are getting it wrong, and then something happens that makes you realise you’re just as guilty as those you spend so much time condemning for their selfishness.

Last week, a very good friend of mine suffered a mini-stroke. Now, that in itself is bad enough but the really shameful thing is that I happened to call her up for a chat on the phone at the exact moment it was occurring, and was just too wrapped up in myself and my own problems to realise what was happening.

I’m ashamed to admit, even after the recent run of TV adverts reminding us all about the signs of stroke, that as she was slurring out her answers to my inane chit-chat, I just assumed she had imbibed a little past-the-yardarm tipple and that maybe my call had awoken her from a slightly sozzled afternoon nap.

I had no reason at all to make such a stupid assumption as the lady in question is far from renowned for drinking, but not wanting to pry, I made my excuses and hung up.

I did spend some time worrying about her, but still did absolutely nothing.

Imagine my horror on waking the next day to hear she had been hospitalised and that her slurred speech and confused vocabulary – all classic symptoms – had been caused by the fact that she had been having a stroke as she was on the telephone to me.

It’s just so easy to get so wrapped up in one’s own problems that we forget the other people in our lives might be struggling too.

Often, those I love feel uncomfortable complaining about what they see as minor health worries in comparison to my own, NHS-budget-busting hospital dramas.

I always tell them I’m not the only person who’s allowed to be ill and encourage them to whinge about their sore arm/blocked nose/stiff knee if they want to. And yet when it really came down to it, I did exactly what they were afraid of and carried on like I’m the only person in the world who could be having a real health crisis.

This time, my lovely friend was lucky and is tucked up in safe hands, in hospital. We hope she will make a full and rapid recovery.

But that’s more than can be said for my guilty conscience and is no thanks at all to me, the one person you would think would know all about the signs and symptoms of impending illness.

Which just goes to show we’re not half as clever as we like to think we are, and not nearly interested enough in each other’s problems. My lesson this week is to start questioning all those things I thought I was getting right in life and make sure I really am.

So give it a go, overhaul your attitude. That’s my lesson of the week, what’s yours?