Since I’m on my GP clinical I’ve had the pleasure of being exposed to a variety of different patients, ailments and personalities. Because of this treatment is always changing, this in my opinion is part of what makes PT so great (at least at times and if you get a good PT). You get to do different treatments, take different approaches, and change communication approaches.
From the obvious differences in talking with a 4 year old with Down Syndrome to an older patient post stroke you obviously communicate differently. But a few transcendent forms of communication are: smiling and touch.
It’s not short of amazing when you stop and think how much a smile impacts people. No matter if it’s a darling 2 year old with the spunkiest attitude Hibbing has ever seen to a grumpy old man who can’t stop fixating on what he used to be. Smiling can begin to melt the toughest exterior or encourage an already accepting encouraging one.
I’ve also realized how powerful touch is. Society and culture has a weird view of touch—as positive and healing as touch can be it can also do inordinate amounts of hurt and culture holds onto that. But it still connects, it lets others know you’re present, and it guides. I’m learning to grow in my confidence when I’m working hands on with my patients, which is virtually always, and to be confident in what I’m instructing; to not feel weird about helping a patient with a pelvic tilt through hand guidance because I know I’m for their best. There’s something that verbal communication just can’t reach.
Each patient is different (duh!). Considering, respecting and honoring differences informs and directs our treatment, but I have been trying to increase the therapeutic alliance through a healing, compassionate and understanding touch. We live in a beautiful diverse world. Even in a fairly homogeneous population that is Hibbing there remains diversity. It just takes a little more thought and examination and can be benefited by my loving confident hands on PT skills.
Monday, April 27, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Stopping and thinking
Sometimes, especially when life is busy1. , I make myself stop and think: what am I doing with life? Why am I doing it? What's going on, Owen?
Simple reflections get passed over, pushed away or even hidden from, but self-examination is paramount in my life. I love to stay busy and not think, which is why I surround myself with people who ask me the same questions.
All those times when I was younger and I'd get in trouble my parents would ask me afterwards to think about what I'd done, the effects that I'd caused or why did I act the way I did. I rarely did think about my actions in depth. I was young, and life was about doing--I am an extrovert after all.
Today I still live an extroverted life, Hibbing is making that blatantly obvious. But I realize how critical it is for me to stop, rest, and think, examine and critique myself.
Question: What are you doing with life right now? Why are you doing it? What's going on?
Hibbing moment: I only have 4 more weeks in Hibbing. I've reached the halfway point! This totally counts as my Hibbing moment.
Simple reflections get passed over, pushed away or even hidden from, but self-examination is paramount in my life. I love to stay busy and not think, which is why I surround myself with people who ask me the same questions.
All those times when I was younger and I'd get in trouble my parents would ask me afterwards to think about what I'd done, the effects that I'd caused or why did I act the way I did. I rarely did think about my actions in depth. I was young, and life was about doing--I am an extrovert after all.
Today I still live an extroverted life, Hibbing is making that blatantly obvious. But I realize how critical it is for me to stop, rest, and think, examine and critique myself.
Question: What are you doing with life right now? Why are you doing it? What's going on?
Hibbing moment: I only have 4 more weeks in Hibbing. I've reached the halfway point! This totally counts as my Hibbing moment.
1 And life is always busy unless you’re on the 3rd week of Christmas break and starting to get that sick and twisted feeling that you actually kinda sorta wanna get back to school. The one you immediately regret once you’re back into your 1st week of classes.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Grip on life
You know that ridiculous belief you holdfast to? For me it’s that Hook1 is a quality movie. Ok, I’ve come to the point of acceptance that it’s not a top-notch movie. Underrated? Absolutely. Needs to be seen? Probably. Will you enjoy it more with me? Depends on how ok you are with random lines being repeated under my breath. Anyways point is, we all hold fast to beliefs because they make us feel comfortable. We gravitate towards the beliefs that we’ve held onto for awhile. It’s similar to why our friends, for the most part, share most of our same beliefs. They’re what we know. But sometimes those beliefs aren’t always beneficial. They get in the way of us experiencing life. They blind us from learning new things, seeing life through a different lens.
A teacher once put it this way, there are some aspects of life that you need to be sure of, beliefs that you root yourself in, but otherwise hold what you know with an open hand. That is to say don’t be so certain what you “know” is the way the world works, the way a certain people group is, the function of fill-in-the-blank. It’s stereotypes, but it’s also bigger than that.
We need to go out and interact with those that are not the same as us. The sooner we start to realize that world isn’t so black and white and there’s a whole lot more grey than we realized the looser our grip becomes on life. Sometimes there isn’t a right and wrong answer the way so many school answers made us believe. Life isn’t a test you can study for and get 100% on.
A mindset that helped me was from a Buddhist monk. The monk remarked, “You don’t conquer meditation, you practice it.” For some reason I had one of those moments where a connection happened. Life is like meditation. You don’t conquer life you practice it. Some beliefs I have are wrong and some may be right, but realizing that I don’t have it all figured out helps me become more teachable. It helps me loosen my grip on life and my picture of what life is.
Sometimes you gotta just let go and bangarang2.
Question: What preconceived beliefs do you have? How can you open up to hear about others views, experiences and opinions?
A teacher once put it this way, there are some aspects of life that you need to be sure of, beliefs that you root yourself in, but otherwise hold what you know with an open hand. That is to say don’t be so certain what you “know” is the way the world works, the way a certain people group is, the function of fill-in-the-blank. It’s stereotypes, but it’s also bigger than that.
We need to go out and interact with those that are not the same as us. The sooner we start to realize that world isn’t so black and white and there’s a whole lot more grey than we realized the looser our grip becomes on life. Sometimes there isn’t a right and wrong answer the way so many school answers made us believe. Life isn’t a test you can study for and get 100% on.
A mindset that helped me was from a Buddhist monk. The monk remarked, “You don’t conquer meditation, you practice it.” For some reason I had one of those moments where a connection happened. Life is like meditation. You don’t conquer life you practice it. Some beliefs I have are wrong and some may be right, but realizing that I don’t have it all figured out helps me become more teachable. It helps me loosen my grip on life and my picture of what life is.
Sometimes you gotta just let go and bangarang2.
Question: What preconceived beliefs do you have? How can you open up to hear about others views, experiences and opinions?
1 Steven Spielberg’s 1991 Peter Pan adaptation with Peter all grown up staring, one of my favorites, Robin Williams. The soundtrack is top notch (I may have listened to it over 100 times…) and the acting is surprisingly decent, although that could be nostalgia not letting me view it any other way. But in all seriousness there probably isn’t a moment I can’t work in a Hook quote
2 Yup, that’s a Hook reference!
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
On wellness
Today I want to talk, er type, about wellness. In my first year of PT school I was required to write a paper on my view of wellness. I decided I wanted to rewrite it with my changing views, so without further ado.
Many times when people write about a topic or theme they go to Webster’s dictionary and define the word1. The problem that exists here is that (a) that only works when different definitions exist and (b) it’s kind of lazy (see previous footnote), lay it out, what does it mean to you?
Wellness, to me, is a multifaceted, interacting set of subjective and objective measures, beliefs, and ideals. They are influenced by nature, nurture, family, friends, and culture—but ultimately at some level they are self held beliefs as to what fluctuating state that individual is in. Essentially, there is wiggle room into what is well from Mitt Romney, that Wendy’s owner who’s most recently trying to convince us to buy her fast food salads2 and to me. Sure, I think most people would agree that there are points at which the majority of people will agree, which is part of what makes up cultural beliefs, but there is no one definitive back of the book answer.
Part of why this ambiguity exists, in my opinion, is due to the many different areas of wellness. It’s not just physical outward appearance or medical record or number of surgeries3. Physical, emotional, and spiritual are my big 3. Physical ties into emotional, and emotional to spiritual and spiritual to physical, etc. The interaction between these ebb and flow, much like life is. Rarely is anything static, day-to-day or even in some cases moment-to-moment. The world has ridiculously fickle moments, where one second you float on cloud 9 and what seems like in no time a flak cannon of bad news shoots you down. Not fun, and yet it’s definitely a feeling we have all had. “Emotional wellness”: not as much, “Life”: a lot. Now that’s just a perspective and I believe that with shifts of attention it doesn’t always feel like that.
That leads me to what I view as the most important aspect of wellness. Where are you rooted? Where is your purpose? What tells you what you are worth? Is it society or other people? The number on the scale or how many laughs your carefully timed jokes receive? Is your worth based on your performance or is it something more?
For me, I root myself in something bigger. My rock is Jesus. Can you be well without my beliefs? Well, since I just spent time talking about how wellness is an indefinable ideology, yeah, I think that’s a possibility, because we define it ourselves. But Jesus helped redefine what wellness is to me. My wellness is no longer fully rooted in how I perform. It’s not contingent on getting the perfect grade, or making everyone laugh, or gaining that extra pound of muscle or losing that extra ounce of weight. Life is more than what is on the outside. What’s on the inside changes how I view the outside and it also changes my outside. It frees me, because of his death and resurrection for me, to live each moment in his grace, not focusing on earning some body’s approval, recognition or love, because who I was created to be is enough. I don’t need to put on an emotional mask and be what culture defines as masculine. I can cry at the funeral of a friend’s mom I never got to meet or when I watch Big Hero 64. It frees me to be who I was created to be and that allows harmony, it allows holistic wellness.
Rooting self worth in the spiritual realm allows for me to not let the ups and downs in the other realms affect me as much. They still do and I still care about them, but not for the same reason others might. I don’t feel like I need to have a particular sense of humor or body weight to fit in situation X or group Y. I, again, can just be who I was created strengths, weaknesses and all.
Now this is not to say that I still don’t have goals or areas where I seek improvement, because I believe that people aren’t perfect, especially me5. . That mindset also allows me the ability to give others grace in their wellness journeys. If I’m not perfect why should I expect them to be? Instead of getting stuck in frustration and annoyance at others it changes to how I can encourage others and build them up.
It’s funny that being an almost Physical Therapist I didn’t talk much about blood pressure readings, number of push ups completed in a minute, or cortisol levels6. Those do all matter; it’s a portion of the physical and emotional health, which absolutely ties into wellness. I just personally don’t know how much they all matter in the grand scheme of things if there isn’t something more grounding you.
Question: What is wellness to you? How can you move forward in giving yourself grace and forgiveness of self, even if you aren’t a Christian, and help your wellness?
Hibbing moment: I am continually laughed at when I ask what there is to do around town, just thought you all7 should know that. I lost my back license plate somewhere between Minneapolis and Hibbing. Dang thing must have rusted off. Luckily Hibbing is big enough to have a DMV, so I purchased new plates and ended up small towning the back one on with zip ties. I feel I have earned more acceptance into the community and now only get 50 weird looks a day, but that could also be because they’ve never seen a man in pants as tight as mine with a pink button down on…
Many times when people write about a topic or theme they go to Webster’s dictionary and define the word1. The problem that exists here is that (a) that only works when different definitions exist and (b) it’s kind of lazy (see previous footnote), lay it out, what does it mean to you?
Wellness, to me, is a multifaceted, interacting set of subjective and objective measures, beliefs, and ideals. They are influenced by nature, nurture, family, friends, and culture—but ultimately at some level they are self held beliefs as to what fluctuating state that individual is in. Essentially, there is wiggle room into what is well from Mitt Romney, that Wendy’s owner who’s most recently trying to convince us to buy her fast food salads2 and to me. Sure, I think most people would agree that there are points at which the majority of people will agree, which is part of what makes up cultural beliefs, but there is no one definitive back of the book answer.
Part of why this ambiguity exists, in my opinion, is due to the many different areas of wellness. It’s not just physical outward appearance or medical record or number of surgeries3. Physical, emotional, and spiritual are my big 3. Physical ties into emotional, and emotional to spiritual and spiritual to physical, etc. The interaction between these ebb and flow, much like life is. Rarely is anything static, day-to-day or even in some cases moment-to-moment. The world has ridiculously fickle moments, where one second you float on cloud 9 and what seems like in no time a flak cannon of bad news shoots you down. Not fun, and yet it’s definitely a feeling we have all had. “Emotional wellness”: not as much, “Life”: a lot. Now that’s just a perspective and I believe that with shifts of attention it doesn’t always feel like that.
That leads me to what I view as the most important aspect of wellness. Where are you rooted? Where is your purpose? What tells you what you are worth? Is it society or other people? The number on the scale or how many laughs your carefully timed jokes receive? Is your worth based on your performance or is it something more?
For me, I root myself in something bigger. My rock is Jesus. Can you be well without my beliefs? Well, since I just spent time talking about how wellness is an indefinable ideology, yeah, I think that’s a possibility, because we define it ourselves. But Jesus helped redefine what wellness is to me. My wellness is no longer fully rooted in how I perform. It’s not contingent on getting the perfect grade, or making everyone laugh, or gaining that extra pound of muscle or losing that extra ounce of weight. Life is more than what is on the outside. What’s on the inside changes how I view the outside and it also changes my outside. It frees me, because of his death and resurrection for me, to live each moment in his grace, not focusing on earning some body’s approval, recognition or love, because who I was created to be is enough. I don’t need to put on an emotional mask and be what culture defines as masculine. I can cry at the funeral of a friend’s mom I never got to meet or when I watch Big Hero 64. It frees me to be who I was created to be and that allows harmony, it allows holistic wellness.
Rooting self worth in the spiritual realm allows for me to not let the ups and downs in the other realms affect me as much. They still do and I still care about them, but not for the same reason others might. I don’t feel like I need to have a particular sense of humor or body weight to fit in situation X or group Y. I, again, can just be who I was created strengths, weaknesses and all.
Now this is not to say that I still don’t have goals or areas where I seek improvement, because I believe that people aren’t perfect, especially me5. . That mindset also allows me the ability to give others grace in their wellness journeys. If I’m not perfect why should I expect them to be? Instead of getting stuck in frustration and annoyance at others it changes to how I can encourage others and build them up.
It’s funny that being an almost Physical Therapist I didn’t talk much about blood pressure readings, number of push ups completed in a minute, or cortisol levels6. Those do all matter; it’s a portion of the physical and emotional health, which absolutely ties into wellness. I just personally don’t know how much they all matter in the grand scheme of things if there isn’t something more grounding you.
Question: What is wellness to you? How can you move forward in giving yourself grace and forgiveness of self, even if you aren’t a Christian, and help your wellness?
Hibbing moment: I am continually laughed at when I ask what there is to do around town, just thought you all7 should know that. I lost my back license plate somewhere between Minneapolis and Hibbing. Dang thing must have rusted off. Luckily Hibbing is big enough to have a DMV, so I purchased new plates and ended up small towning the back one on with zip ties. I feel I have earned more acceptance into the community and now only get 50 weird looks a day, but that could also be because they’ve never seen a man in pants as tight as mine with a pink button down on…
1 You know, most of the time, that if that’s how you’re starting out your paper you’ve run out creative juices. You need to rest, relax, have a Jamba Juice (DQ is also acceptable if you’re feeling more on the ice creamy side, just not Orange Julius—that is not up for debate, unlike the rest of this entry) and restore that depleted creativity tank, that is unless you’re writing at the last second and you can’t come up with anything else, then you might be up a creek without a paddle for the time being. I dunno, maybe pay someone? Go to the weight room and start licking the dumbbells that have never ever ever been cleaned in the hopes that you’ll contract some illness that will keep you out of class, but still able to write…on second thought just start out the paper with the definition.
2 Who goes to fast food restaurant and gets a salad? Aren’t all salads fast? Just make it at home people! So much better anyways. If you people want good salad recipes, just drop me a line. I’ll give you dressings that are on point (aka: very tasty).
3 Some of the most joyful people are far from what most people would regard as healthy or “well” just looking at them. Those people/kids have taught me more than they know about self.
4 Which is a fantastic movie that everyone should see. If you don’t cry that’s ok too, it’s just who you are, unless you feel like you want to cry then you should let it out, Baymax will help you through it.
6 This does not mean that I will not have illnesses, both physically or mentally. I do not believe someone who is well cannot be sick or have crumby moments, weeks, or even years.
6 A hormone found in the human body that in acute portions is not bad, but when it hangs around for more chronic periods of time denotes long-term stress; a big no-no in the wellness realm. Nerd note: you may also see a number of raised interleukins 3 and 6 for sure.
7 All 3 or 4 of you.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
What Easter has to say about suffering
The resurrection means that Jesus meets us where we are. That’s grace. Accepting this has been hard for me. Living it out has been even harder. We live in a culture that’s so obsessed with earning, proving and repaying. Nothing is free and when it is it’s equal in quality to a McDonald’s toy or you’re giving away your phone number, address, favorite mayo brand1, and before you know it they have your social security number2. But Jesus gives freely, completely, and with no strings attached.
This frees us to be who we were created to be, not acting under the scrutiny or manipulation of pleasing others or gaining their approval, respect or admiration. People respond to our passions, because when you’re passionate about something you can feel it, there’s no real explanation other than you can just feel it. Be passionate and don’t be embarrassed to share it, it’s who you are and trust me, it’s good! Not everyone is going to resonate with it and will think it’s weird, that’s ok too. You gotta do you, embrace it and share you with this world that so desperately needs individuals who together make up a beautiful body of people3!
So where is God in suffering? In death, heartache, fights, failures, and unemployment? God is right there with you, letting you be you. Letting you be angry, hurt, sad, scared and frustrated, because that’s you. He meets you where you are at and whispers, “You’re enough, and I’m not going anywhere. There isn’t anything you can do to lose my love or earn it. It never wanes or waxes. It’s the constant you seek for in so many other places and it’s here, from me.” Logic, reason and mathematics go straight out the window. Brennan Manning says it best in The Ragamuffin Gospel, “The call asks, Do you really accept the message that God is head over heels in love with you? I believe that this question is at the core of our ability to mature and grow spiritually. If in our hearts we really don’t believe that God loves us as we are, if we are still tainted by the lie that we can do something to make God love us more, we are rejecting the message of the Cross.”4
Every moment of life, on the mountain tops, in the valleys and on the plateaus, Christ’s love and pursuit of us remains consistent. My prayer is that we all accept, realize and live in God’s grace that’s been freely given and frees us to be our true selves that we were created to be, glorifying him and loving recklessly like he recklessly loves us.
Question to ponder: do you feel free to be your true self, living without the yoke of others expectations weighing you down?.”5
This frees us to be who we were created to be, not acting under the scrutiny or manipulation of pleasing others or gaining their approval, respect or admiration. People respond to our passions, because when you’re passionate about something you can feel it, there’s no real explanation other than you can just feel it. Be passionate and don’t be embarrassed to share it, it’s who you are and trust me, it’s good! Not everyone is going to resonate with it and will think it’s weird, that’s ok too. You gotta do you, embrace it and share you with this world that so desperately needs individuals who together make up a beautiful body of people3!
So where is God in suffering? In death, heartache, fights, failures, and unemployment? God is right there with you, letting you be you. Letting you be angry, hurt, sad, scared and frustrated, because that’s you. He meets you where you are at and whispers, “You’re enough, and I’m not going anywhere. There isn’t anything you can do to lose my love or earn it. It never wanes or waxes. It’s the constant you seek for in so many other places and it’s here, from me.” Logic, reason and mathematics go straight out the window. Brennan Manning says it best in The Ragamuffin Gospel, “The call asks, Do you really accept the message that God is head over heels in love with you? I believe that this question is at the core of our ability to mature and grow spiritually. If in our hearts we really don’t believe that God loves us as we are, if we are still tainted by the lie that we can do something to make God love us more, we are rejecting the message of the Cross.”4
Every moment of life, on the mountain tops, in the valleys and on the plateaus, Christ’s love and pursuit of us remains consistent. My prayer is that we all accept, realize and live in God’s grace that’s been freely given and frees us to be our true selves that we were created to be, glorifying him and loving recklessly like he recklessly loves us.
Question to ponder: do you feel free to be your true self, living without the yoke of others expectations weighing you down?.”5
1 If it’s not Hellman’s you were either captured and tortured by the owners of Miracle Whip and now have Stockholm Syndrome or just have never experienced the greatness that is Hellman’s mayo.
2 You know to make sure you’re a real person because hologram technology these days, I tell ya.
3 See Ephesians 4:16 and 1 Corinthians 12:12
4 Here’s another fantastic one, because I love Manning’s words on grace, “My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”
5 That means spontaneous moments of dance, weird voices (especially accents) and face making. Or just being introverted if that’s what you’re in to.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Hibbing
We live in a busy world, at least that is the way I see it. Granted I grew up, all 24 years of my life, in the big (small) city of Minneapolis, which I absolutely adore and will talk up to anyone. Seriously though, Minneapolis has attractions for all types of people. I can show up at almost any park, weather permitting, and step into a pickup game of basketball, I can look in the paper and find some obscure artistic festival that attracts interesting, unique, perspective widening individuals, I can go to the Mall of America1. I can visit one of the many amazing small, locally owned cafes or restaurants (seriously though, there are some amazing restaurants in Minneapolis/St Paul), see great theatre, or fun art, improv acts and so many other random, fantastic activities that I don’t even know exist, which adds to the greatness! I didn’t even mention that our healthcare system is above par compared to most other states, we have decent school system (or so I’ve been told), diversity of ethnicity, culture and beliefs and Prince grew up here! Look what you made me do, I just went on a blog rant over Minneapolis/MN, but I guess it is my blog anyways, so you get what you get!
The point is, I’ve grown accustomed to the community I’ve been raised in, and you probably have to. We can apply that on a micro scale down to the neighborhood or a macro scale to the USA, or planet earth if we ever inhabit Mars or the moon, I suppose. And for most of us that life is hectic, one that measures success in how much we accomplish. Or get done in one day. I’m sure we’ve all read that before. But while I lie on the floor—don’t judge me, I know some of you are2—of my rented community college dorm room next to a fingernail clipping from the last inhabitant since it that wasn't vacuumed before I came3, I realize that, along with this being a ridiculous and possibly grammatically incorrect sentence ridden post, life is definitely, absolutely, most certainly different, while still being similar up here in Hibbing. I’m sure people still feel like they need to get check lists accomplished, but there’s just a feeling about small towns. I’ve been here 2 days and I can sense it (just like Vader can sense Ben Kenobi’s presence on the Death Star). If I’m being honest that difference freaks me out, I feel uncomfortable. If I wasn’t nervous and anxious about moving to a town where I knew no one, having time and spaced slowed down makes it worse. It forces me to live in the moment even more, think and process life. Yet differences are good, fantastic even.
An approach I take to life is thinking about what I want to teach my future kids. How can I give them a leg up? What life lived wisdom can I impart? Slowing down, thinking, processing and putting yourself in uncomfortable situations4 will almost certainly be on that list. Inspection of life, and daily Sabbaths even if they only last for a minute to reflect on how my day is going and where my focus and strength is rooted. For me, Hibbing is, in a way, a larger life Sabbath. It forces me to slow down, remove myself from my groups of friends and family. Live life in a much simpler way and examine where my priorities lay. Focus on loving myself and asking challenging, growth inducing, questions to myself.
Question I leave you with: Where are you focusing your attention, energy, and love? Is there somewhere else you should be placing it?
I challenge you to slow down and think, and examine yourself.
Hibbing moment5: Since I’m new in town I’ve been asking my patients if they have any Hibbing recommendations for activities I should do while I’m in town. One of my most talkative and fun patients looked at my clinical instructor and asked out of the side of her mouth, “what do I tell him?” We all burst out laughing and we went on to talk about the small town dynamics.
The point is, I’ve grown accustomed to the community I’ve been raised in, and you probably have to. We can apply that on a micro scale down to the neighborhood or a macro scale to the USA, or planet earth if we ever inhabit Mars or the moon, I suppose. And for most of us that life is hectic, one that measures success in how much we accomplish. Or get done in one day. I’m sure we’ve all read that before. But while I lie on the floor—don’t judge me, I know some of you are2—of my rented community college dorm room next to a fingernail clipping from the last inhabitant since it that wasn't vacuumed before I came3, I realize that, along with this being a ridiculous and possibly grammatically incorrect sentence ridden post, life is definitely, absolutely, most certainly different, while still being similar up here in Hibbing. I’m sure people still feel like they need to get check lists accomplished, but there’s just a feeling about small towns. I’ve been here 2 days and I can sense it (just like Vader can sense Ben Kenobi’s presence on the Death Star). If I’m being honest that difference freaks me out, I feel uncomfortable. If I wasn’t nervous and anxious about moving to a town where I knew no one, having time and spaced slowed down makes it worse. It forces me to live in the moment even more, think and process life. Yet differences are good, fantastic even.
An approach I take to life is thinking about what I want to teach my future kids. How can I give them a leg up? What life lived wisdom can I impart? Slowing down, thinking, processing and putting yourself in uncomfortable situations4 will almost certainly be on that list. Inspection of life, and daily Sabbaths even if they only last for a minute to reflect on how my day is going and where my focus and strength is rooted. For me, Hibbing is, in a way, a larger life Sabbath. It forces me to slow down, remove myself from my groups of friends and family. Live life in a much simpler way and examine where my priorities lay. Focus on loving myself and asking challenging, growth inducing, questions to myself.
Question I leave you with: Where are you focusing your attention, energy, and love? Is there somewhere else you should be placing it?
I challenge you to slow down and think, and examine yourself.
Hibbing moment5: Since I’m new in town I’ve been asking my patients if they have any Hibbing recommendations for activities I should do while I’m in town. One of my most talkative and fun patients looked at my clinical instructor and asked out of the side of her mouth, “what do I tell him?” We all burst out laughing and we went on to talk about the small town dynamics.
1 If I’m feeling like I have too much energy and need some drained…
2 Sometimes you just gotta lie down and type it out while listening to Tay Tay (Welcome to…Hibbing? which if that was a thing she would be much safer living alone here than NYC and Schmidt would feel much better about the situation--New Girl reference)
3 That was a pointless, but at the same time, totally necessary detail
4 Not the Michael Scott kind, the other kind that has less face twisting and pillow face covering
5 I think every blog post I will share a funny or just Hibbingy moment, whether or not the post is about Hibbing
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