Hang Ten

 

I am terrible at time management.  In fact, you can probably judge how well you really know me by how aware you are of that fact.  I always seem to be playing catch up in some area of my life.  My dream is to be on top of everything - all at the same time.  With that said, I think some of my dreams will always remain just out of reach, yet another thing to add to my list.

I was lately considering my 2012 Resolutions and how little I had done toward any of them so far.  Then I started thinking about all the school that I needed to do, and how I needed to balance my budget, and work on my research project, and read my Bible, and breed the rabbits, and check the oil in my car.  I can sometimes hardly enjoy life because I’m too busy living it.  And I started thinking.

 

The only difference between drowning and surfing is which side of the wave you are on.  On one side, the water is pushing you, holding you up, wind in your hair.  On the other side, you are getting flipped around, slammed by the current, hardly know which side is up.  Now sure, sometimes you fall off your board, but you get back in just as soon as you can. 

My big problem is what I’ll call snorkeling.  As I’m getting washer machined by the wrong end of a wave, I just dive deeper and say, “Hey, to get out of this backwash, I’ll just go look at that pretty coral”.  But you know, sooner or later I have to come back up to reality to get air.  And when I do, I am in worse shape than when I went down because now I have lost time, I’m more tired, and I have no clue what is going on - so I usually get slammed in the back of the head by another wave.

But, I want to live my life on the edge.  I want to hang ten up in the sunlight and the salt spray instead of staring at the skeleton of some dead thing, no matter how colorful it is.  Hope to see you out on a boggas! 

Ideas to try:
Make a schedule
Write down stuff on your calendar
Have a specific time to relax... and then work when its not that time. 
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 
1 Corinthians 3:9-15 
Revelation 3:11-12 


What helps you? Feel free to comment below!

Hmmm... Let me clarify.  When I talk about snorkeling, I'm talking about coming home from work thinking about all the things that need doing - and then checking out by watching an episode of Hawaii Five-0... again.  What I am doing is sin.  Plain and simple.  My head goes, "But, Allison, you need to relax!"  Now, I don't think that the Bible teaches that it is wrong to unwind... but I also know that it teaches a good work ethic.  Don't worry, I get plenty of relaxing done and I watch plenty of TV.  But right now, I have clear instructions on what I am supposed to be doing, and I will be held accountable for how I spend my time.  There is a time for everything, and I don't plan on skipping next week's episode.  But I also need to keep in mind my priorities.  Luke 9:62 says that we are supposed to serve God with single minded purpose.  Thankfully, I can be assured of His forgiveness when I fail, but with His help I would like to fail less often. 

Week 6

• Week 6 •

            Well, I finished up my clinical.  I was able to kick it up a notch this week.  I attained 90% productivity.  The last couple of days were short days.  Caseload has been low and Taryn wanted to go over my CPI.

            There are definitely things that I will miss about this clinical.  I couldn’t ask for a better CI, and I have learned so much from the others, especially from Leah, the COTA.  I have enjoyed getting to know the patients, the routine.  I like the small feel of the place, like you know everyone.  You can say hi to people in the halls and you know what to do when that old man starts uprooting the artificial tree and that old lady says she ate a three car garage for breakfast... and means it. 

            But, I also don’t plan on graduating and snagging the first SNF job that comes my way.  It is tough to maintain the productivity.  It is tough to maintain morale when your patient keeps falling asleep while you are talking to them.  It is tough to know how to balance aggressive treatment with realistic goals.  And it is very tough to constantly be battling.  I feel like in the SNF you are battling the nursing staff who is always understaffed and always short on time.  You are battling Medicare to maintain a profit.  You are battling the patients who don’t see any reason to come down to do exercise.  You are battling your coworkers who you like, but who don’t do things the way you would.  And you are battling yourself, because you don’t know if you are really doing any good, and because you want to take the easy way out, and because you want to be able to work without using your brain or your voice.  And in the nursing home, you have to use your voice.  No, you are a voice.  And your patients need you.