Column

Blessed Assurance – Serenity

How would you define the word “serenity”? Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines it as “a state of utter calm and unruffled repose or quietude”. I’ve always had the ability to remain unruffled in many challenging situations. It was what gave me the ability to function in the ICU and Emergency Department environment without losing my cool or my mind. I’m not sure that I would have called myself serene when I was in the middle of the chaos and mayhem that often accompanied a shift in those environments, but I was able to block out the noise and emotion and find a way to focus on what needed to be done.

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Caregiving doesn’t end at retirement

Most Americans hope that retirement will bring a transition into greater financial freedom and more time spent pursuing personal goals and hobbies. For parents acting as caregivers for adult children with disabilities, however, retirement often brings a different reality. Many of these adults find themselves continuing or increasing the care they provide while also facing the financial and physical challenges of aging themselves.

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Blessed Assurance – Intelligence or wisdom?

Ihave spent a lot of my life acquiring knowledge. Like most people in the U.S. I attended school from Kindergarten through High School. I learned a lot and it prepared me in important ways for my continued learning in college and two graduate programs. Through all that formal education I developed a habit of life-long learning. Simply put, I love learning new things and am especially drawn to learning from and about people. I have met some fabulous human beings over the last 6.5 decades of life. Some have become close friends and others have become examples of what not to do – and both have taught me much.

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Blessed Assurance – Rest

Anyone who knows me understands that I’m a fairly Type-A, driven individual. It has always been how I am wired and I have done well in my careers because of that way of functioning. However, that way of functioning has also led to symptoms of burnout and to an understanding that I can’t just go full throttle all the time without some rest and relaxation. Working too much in a high stress ICU environment helped me to understand my need for a different narrative that could heal the psychological wounds I was carrying from all the injuries and deaths I witnessed.

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Blessed Assurance – The enemy of good

During my first career as a clinical pharmacist, I had the opportunity to work with a large number of physicians, nurses and other health professionals. Some of these folks were tremendous professionals and people, from whom I learned a great deal. I have always had a special affinity for surgeons, though they can be some of the prickliest and most challenging people God ever placed on earth! Part of this demeanor is that it takes a lot of chutzpah to cut open a living human body, mess about inside it for a while, and then sew everything back up again – kinda like nothing ever happened.

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On & Off Earth – The sneakiness of September

September is a sneaky month. This first week, there is little doubt it is still summer but change, as always, is creeping in from all directions. The first sneaky change I noticed, back in mid-August, was the sunlight bypassing my overhanging eaves and shining onto my desk. The loss of daylight is subtle in the early summer but is picking up speed as Earth’s tilted orbit sees the sun wrap up its annual northern hemisphere tour at the Autumnal Equinox at 8:05pm on the 22nd.

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