Hello, strangers. I've been a little MIA because of my summer classes. Grad school classes during the summer are absolutely insane. Glad they are over. :)
Anyway, I think a lot about our relationships with other people. I think I mentioned before that there are 2 things that I personally think give life meaning: 1) what you do (which I've already talked about) and 2) your relationships with others.. especially how you treat other people.
Recently, I had a friend tell me that she would never volunteer because she refuses to do work that she can't get paid for. This bothered me for 2 reasons: 1) We're going to school to be helping professionals, and we will most likely HAVE to do probono work. 2) I felt it was an incredibly selfish thing to say. I know I made a judgment, but at that moment, I couldn't help myself. I chose a career path which allows me to help others, and I just assumed that other people in this field would feel the same. Guess there are people in every field who are just in it for the money.
Anyway, getting back to relationships.. I just think it's so important for us to build relationships with others. Those relationships come from the way we treat others. For me, it's about treating others in the way that I would want them to treat me. I know that sounds cliche, but it's true. I think that if you are nice and respectful, people will treat you that way as well.
I also think it's quite interesting how we develop relationships with others. Every decision we make in life affects who we will meet and form relationships with. I think had I not made the decision to do an internship my first year of college, I would have never met my boyfriend, then I would not have ended up at the grad school I did, and I would not have met the many wonderful people that I've met these last 2 years. Kind of crazy that one little decision (to do an internship) affected my life in such a profound way. I think it's interesting how that happens...
I want to leave you guys with a story from a girl I used to work with. I thought the way she looked at the world was quite beautiful. One day her phone rang, and she didn't recognize the number. She answered anyway and quickly realized that the man on the other end of the line had the wrong number. Instead of just hanging up with him quickly, she told him, "You know, had you not dialed the wrong number, I probably would have never, in my life, talked to you..." Then they went on to talk about how with just one wrong number, a person can make an impact on someone else's life... it may be a TINY impact, but an impact none-the-less... The man told my friend that he had never thought of this before and thanked her for changing his perspective just a little... all because of a wrong number... Interesting, I thought... :)
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ReplyDeleteI live my life by just looking after whats important, my wife, family, friends etc. you have a good view on relationships, but we still have a responsability to treat everyone as we want to be treated, look at what happens when we don't #londonriots
ReplyDeletegosh, why is that so many uncaring people choose a profession in the health care industry?! the only reason i can think of is money, like you suggested. or maybe to look like a good person? regardless of the reason - when i was a little kid, i was SO scared of nurses... they were always so hateful to me!! even at 5 years old, i remember wondering why on earth the mean nurses chose a job where they were supposed to HELP people when they clearly HATED people! i am SO thankful that there are still some good people like you out there who sincerely do want to help others! i haven't had any bad experiences with people in the mental/behavioral health industry... i'm only refering to medical health industry. i think people with jobs in the behavioral field are generally a lot more caring than those in the medical field! of course there are always a few bad apples in the bunch of every career. it's especially sad though when the wrong people go into the health industry! there are so many other careers they could choose instead! i've always strongly believed that health related jobs should require a special kind of person!!! too many people these days see a cheezy degree commerical on tv and think "wow, i can become a nurse's assistant in just 9 months! that seems easy enough, and i don't know what else to do with my life, so i'll do that! " ... but a person really should have a passion to help others if they decide to take that route! when i do actually have a nice nurse, i always thank her for being so kind. i tell her that i wish more nurses could be like her! the nice nurses are always so appreciative, and sometimes they will even ask if they can hug me, lol, so they aren't all bad! :) okay, i think i just wrote more than your entire blog... oops! better stop! haha!
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