Perspective

I was having a bit of a downer last week. I wasn't too happy or thankful for much. I did not really a good attitude at all until I went to a MAPP meeting on Thursday. What's MAPP?Hmmm, one day I'll explain it properly but til then; tt's this group where med students meet to talk and plan ways to take medical aid to developing nations. Sorta save the world with doing what we can, one human at a time kinda stuff. sounds cheesy (partly cos I've made it sound that way), but it was just the kick in the backside that I needed to remind me of why I'm where I am. Made me realise just how blessed I am to be in my situation.

I've learnt that the little, tiny annoeying things don't really matter. Oooh, I've thought of an analogy. This analogy is pretty much for everyone that it capable of reading this blog. 1- you can read! 2- you have internet access. And besides, I'm sure that there are more wonderful things in your life than this. Anyway... it's like we've been given a silver plater with a selection of over 1000 different delicately hand crafted appetizers. All beautifully created. We try the first few and they're just so delicious. Then after a countless number of treats, we come to one that looks promising, it's just as beautiful as the previous ones we've eaten. We place it in our mouths expectantly. Shocked, we find that it's actually a disguisting morsal that contains a nasty ingredient (e.g. goat cheese - I hate goat cheese!). Now, we can pull a tantrum and through the silver plater away or actually just grab another piece. Surely, it can't get any worse. Chances are, the new peice will wash away that disguisting taste. What I'm trying to say is, embrass life and all it has to offer. Don't throw it away because crap happens. If anything, be thankful for the unpleasant things, makes you appreciate the pleasant more. Stops you from taking good things for granted.

So, how am I doing? I'm very well thanks. Life is great. I'm really enjoying geriactric medicine. Old people (in general) are endearing. They sometimes require a lot of patience but most are absolutely lovely. I'm finding this rotation to be very rewarding. Not to say that I'm going to become a geriatrition but I'm not ruling it out. I guess it's a bonus that I'm enjoying what I'm doing at present.

Life

In response to Abbey's comment. Yes, life's already pretty exciting but it's going to get even better. I've got my first day in the hospital on wednesday then Jesse will be here for a couple of days THEN I start my clinical training. Woo hoo! How exciting. Real patients!

There is going to be lots of socialising in the first couple of weeks which will be great. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone and seeing what they all got up to for the summer.

Last night after hanging out with Catherine (movie, dinner then pool), I came back home to find Danny and his friends playing drinking games. I joined in on the festivities. Danny told everyone that his little sister's a good girl. I behaved myself :D We went into town and Danny introduced me to a lot of guys and told them to look after if I was out and any guys were giving me trouble. I had a great night out but I wouldn't be keen to do it on a regular basis.

Home sweet home

I arrived back to NZ last night. The plan? I'm going to go to Nelson tomorrow with my brother and my extended family. We're all goin to spend Christmas there with mum. Then, I'll be waitress there till about mid January before setting up my life in chch for the next 3 years.

From my trip overseas this time, I learnt quite a bit about myself. I guess that my submersion into a foreign enviroment really aided my self evaluation process. I'm moving into my clinical years next month so now is a good time to sort out what I want out of life. I still don't know the extact details but I definitely have a much better idea. For example, I don't know what kind of doctor I'd like to eventually be but I know the qualities that I'm looking for.

I received a letter(that I wrote earlier this year) in the mail yesterday. I know that it sounds a little odd but it's actually very helpful to evaluate the year that is about to pass. Did I achieve all that I wanted to? Were my priorities kept in check? Have I grown as much as I wanted to? Has my life this year been a blessing to those around me?

I think that I did a reasonable job of it all. But is that what I actually want? In my eulogy one day, for my life to be discribed as "reasonable"? NO! I want it to be an extraordinary life full of God's love and gace. A life fulled with adventure and excitement and much much more. I'm going to write another letter sometime in January. There's going to be more of an emphasis on God and my big plans for life will also start to take shape.

I also appreciate my family a little more now. As I'm sure you're all aware, every family is imperfect. Every member has strange quirks that can drive us mad at times. But we love them to bits anyway. I'm not sure whether it's that we love them inspite of their faults or because of them. Maybe it's a bit of both.

My brother (Danny) was in China and Japan while I was in the states. He's now thinking of moving to China to study Mandarin. If he does, he'll be leaving in mid Feb. If so, I'll probably visit him in late October of the coming year. It'll be a huge challenge for him (and our family) for many reasons but I think that (if the plan goes ahead), it'll be a great learning experience for him (and our family).