This week’s What I’ve Learned is shorter than normal, but there are lessons I need to share that aren’t ready. I could share them, but I would feel like I’m cheating you, but more importantly, I’d be cheating myself. I’m a few days late sharing my weekly thoughts on life and the lessons I’ve learned, but there has been a lot to think about over the past week or so. Even now, I don’t know if I have learned all of the lessons I’m supposed to with what I’ll be sharing, but I’m open to embracing all they have to share.
1. Find good doctors. I left my OB/Gyn that was much closer to home to go back to my old one — nearly an hour drive on some days due to traffic. He’s an expert for women as they start to age. After a discussion with my health and what my body was doing, he told me “the old doctor didn’t give you bad advice, that’s what I’d tell you to do and here’s why.” In two minutes, he explained why some of the things he wanted to do for me (and the old doctor) was necessary and the positive effect it would have on my body.
Two minutes.
That’s all it took for explanation and for me to understand. Doctors are pushed to their limits and with medicine being a corporate game of earnings and billable time, it makes it extremely difficult for them to do the thing they went to medical school for: patient care. It’s so essential and two minutes over one year ago could have saved me a lot of physical misery. That’s why I’ll never complain if my doctor is late or tied up with patients. I know they are giving them the time they need – their two minutes.
2. You can’t always be a rockstar friend. As I’ve mentioned before, the older I get, the smaller my circle of friends has gotten. Oh, it looks like I have a ton of friends everywhere, but those that I can truly count on — I don’t need that many fingers to add the numbers up. Friendship isn’t a numbers game. It’s about people.
I have always been a rockstar friend. Always. Until I couldn’t be.
I just couldn’t do it. The people who love me and stuck my me let me be, but always checked in. They know my anxiety and depression issues — I have a tendency to shut the world out and ignore it and everyone one surrounding me. They won’t let me shut them out and hide — giving me space when I need it, and pulling me back into the world when I’ve been absent for far too long.
3. Be a grateful learner. I’m in a new work role, supporting the team behind Let’s Win PC, a pancreatic cancer non-profit.
I’m very grateful for this opportunity to work with Let’s Win. While my skills behind the scenes are an asset, I’m learning so much every single day about this new world. When you hear of pancreatic cancer, the first thing you think of is death, but I get to see the beauty in the lives of the patients, their caregivers, and the doctors fighting this horrible disease. I get the honor of learning from them about life. They’re teaching me lessons that allow me to have much deeper personal growth — to develop as a human being and as a working professional. For those reasons, and many more, I am eternally grateful.