So the expat challenge.. ya know, the one I EPICALLY failed (being sick and pregnant meant everything in my life was behind... the blog was certainly no exception!)? Well, everyone enjoyed participating (even those of us who failed) so the fb page is doing a monthly prompt. Surely I can do that, I thought. However, with my normal April fashion, I'm a day behind!
Anyways, here's the prompt for this month's challenge!
Prompt for Wednesday 12 March (whenever that is for you!).
Please write on the topic of "advice."
Have you ever been given some life-changing advice? Or terrible advice? Or given it? Maybe you'd like to share some advice to someone making the expat move to your neck of the woods.
Advice. Have given plenty. Some good, some probably horrible. I've been given lots of advice. Some good, some really shitty. ("did you REALLY just say that?" is the response I really want to give sometimes!)
So when thinking of how to approach this prompt, lots of advice comes to mind.
I think one of the greatest pieces of advice I ever received, that I NEVER believed was about my classmates in middle/high school. I was picked on and not popular at school. Between my weight up and down, no boobs that turned overnight into MASSIVE boobs (picked on for both), glasses, being shy..... oh, and having an AWESOME last name that can be turned into "paperweight" when you are chubby and "prostitute" when your boobs SPROUT overnight. It was a fun childhood. But I remember my mom telling me that one day, these people won't matter. Don't worry about what they think, you won't even know who they are or where they are in five years time.
I remember thinking she was so crazy. These people were the people I would see the rest of my life. We would all surely end up at the same college, and we would all NEVER leave the town we lived. We would become the generation that filled all the various roles in the community. All my fellow classmates who wanted to become nurses as well... we would all end up working side by side at the local hospital. Their kids would be popular, and my kids would be picked on by their popular kids. It was history that would just repeat itself. So of COURSE I was worried about the opinions of these people. They were in my life FOREVER.
Oh. To be a teenager and not see the world as it really was. Thanks to facebook, I can now search and find the people that made my life somewhat miserable at school. (And thankfully back then, we didn't have social media or cell phones. When you went home, you were home and NOBODY bothered you. You were safe from the bullshit) Recently I got a friend request from one of "those" girls who were mean to me in high school. I did what anyone would do..... scrolled through what photos of hers I could view on her profile, and to my delight there were hundreds of FB posts as her profile wasn't on lock down. I took a lot of pride in declining her friend request...... TWICE. And when I recently cleaned out a lot of my FB friends (see last post) I realised over time a lot of the people I accepted as "Friends" on facebook, had never spoken a friendly word to me in my life. Why the HELL do I want to keep up with you on Facebook?
Without social media, I would have no clue where basically ANYONE from high school is. Mom was right. Those people really don't matter. I will really try to teach our kids this.. but I'm sure it'll be like me. What do parents know anyways, right? haha
Professionally, I would say the best advice I ever heard was my beloved nursing instructor, Denise (and I can't believe we are almost at her 2 year death anniversary. Love and miss her so much) to my best nursing school friend, Jodi. Jodi has a real germ phobia and wore gloves for everything. Still does. Was an ongoing joke between me and her. One day, she put on gloves and put out her hands to shake a patients hand as she introduced herself. Denise gave her a look I'll never forget. She didn't say anything, but like most good moms, she didn't need to. The "mom" look shot at Jodi said it all.
Denise let us finish what we were doing (whatever it was, lord I sure don't remember) and in the hallway she said "So, Jodi, what did you do wrong?" Puzzled she said "I'm not sure, what did I do?" "You put on gloves to shake their hand?" Still puzzled, she looked and said "yeah?" "Honey, that's someones mamma or granny. What are you gonna catch from shaking their hand?". Now, as a nurse, there are times that ANY contact with a patient you need to wear gloves (certain infections for example). But this person didn't have anything like that. And that really hit home, and is still something I use in my practice. There are times I find myself irritated or annoyed with someone and I truly can feel Denise kick me in the ass and say "That's someones mamma!" and it totally changes my attitude. And in the end, it totally changes the patients outcome and experience. That advice alone has made me a better nurse. Experiencing Denise made me a better nurse, and a better person. It's amazing how much impact one person can have on our lives. I hope one day I will have that impact on someone. I just wish I had told her how I felt. But I guess that's for another blog entry on another day.
Anyways, here's the prompt for this month's challenge!
Prompt for Wednesday 12 March (whenever that is for you!).
Please write on the topic of "advice."
Have you ever been given some life-changing advice? Or terrible advice? Or given it? Maybe you'd like to share some advice to someone making the expat move to your neck of the woods.
Advice. Have given plenty. Some good, some probably horrible. I've been given lots of advice. Some good, some really shitty. ("did you REALLY just say that?" is the response I really want to give sometimes!)
So when thinking of how to approach this prompt, lots of advice comes to mind.
I think one of the greatest pieces of advice I ever received, that I NEVER believed was about my classmates in middle/high school. I was picked on and not popular at school. Between my weight up and down, no boobs that turned overnight into MASSIVE boobs (picked on for both), glasses, being shy..... oh, and having an AWESOME last name that can be turned into "paperweight" when you are chubby and "prostitute" when your boobs SPROUT overnight. It was a fun childhood. But I remember my mom telling me that one day, these people won't matter. Don't worry about what they think, you won't even know who they are or where they are in five years time.
I remember thinking she was so crazy. These people were the people I would see the rest of my life. We would all surely end up at the same college, and we would all NEVER leave the town we lived. We would become the generation that filled all the various roles in the community. All my fellow classmates who wanted to become nurses as well... we would all end up working side by side at the local hospital. Their kids would be popular, and my kids would be picked on by their popular kids. It was history that would just repeat itself. So of COURSE I was worried about the opinions of these people. They were in my life FOREVER.
Oh. To be a teenager and not see the world as it really was. Thanks to facebook, I can now search and find the people that made my life somewhat miserable at school. (And thankfully back then, we didn't have social media or cell phones. When you went home, you were home and NOBODY bothered you. You were safe from the bullshit) Recently I got a friend request from one of "those" girls who were mean to me in high school. I did what anyone would do..... scrolled through what photos of hers I could view on her profile, and to my delight there were hundreds of FB posts as her profile wasn't on lock down. I took a lot of pride in declining her friend request...... TWICE. And when I recently cleaned out a lot of my FB friends (see last post) I realised over time a lot of the people I accepted as "Friends" on facebook, had never spoken a friendly word to me in my life. Why the HELL do I want to keep up with you on Facebook?
Without social media, I would have no clue where basically ANYONE from high school is. Mom was right. Those people really don't matter. I will really try to teach our kids this.. but I'm sure it'll be like me. What do parents know anyways, right? haha
Professionally, I would say the best advice I ever heard was my beloved nursing instructor, Denise (and I can't believe we are almost at her 2 year death anniversary. Love and miss her so much) to my best nursing school friend, Jodi. Jodi has a real germ phobia and wore gloves for everything. Still does. Was an ongoing joke between me and her. One day, she put on gloves and put out her hands to shake a patients hand as she introduced herself. Denise gave her a look I'll never forget. She didn't say anything, but like most good moms, she didn't need to. The "mom" look shot at Jodi said it all.
Denise let us finish what we were doing (whatever it was, lord I sure don't remember) and in the hallway she said "So, Jodi, what did you do wrong?" Puzzled she said "I'm not sure, what did I do?" "You put on gloves to shake their hand?" Still puzzled, she looked and said "yeah?" "Honey, that's someones mamma or granny. What are you gonna catch from shaking their hand?". Now, as a nurse, there are times that ANY contact with a patient you need to wear gloves (certain infections for example). But this person didn't have anything like that. And that really hit home, and is still something I use in my practice. There are times I find myself irritated or annoyed with someone and I truly can feel Denise kick me in the ass and say "That's someones mamma!" and it totally changes my attitude. And in the end, it totally changes the patients outcome and experience. That advice alone has made me a better nurse. Experiencing Denise made me a better nurse, and a better person. It's amazing how much impact one person can have on our lives. I hope one day I will have that impact on someone. I just wish I had told her how I felt. But I guess that's for another blog entry on another day.
Night folks!
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