Perspective.

Sometimes to get me through situations that I know I am being irrationally emotional about (see previous post)... I have to take a step back, take a deep breathe, and give myself some perspective.

Sky and Water by M.C.Escher

     This boy that I knew from elementary school and middle school died the other day.  I haven't seen him since I was in high school and I do not even know him anymore  From what I do remember, he was always so nice and goofy.  It saddens me, because he was so young.  I think about his family, his friends, his girl friend. My heart goes out to his loved ones that are hurting and missing him right now.  

     He had a really bad headache and asked his girlfriend take him to the hospital.  Within five minutes of him being in the Emergency Department, he died from a brain aneurysm.  My friends have been asking me if this is something we have to worry about or something we can do to prevent such things. There really isn't. He was so young and seemingly healthy. This was just one of those freak events that no one could have predicted or prevented. I did learn from some of my old classmates who kept in touch with him that he was an organ donor, which is one amazing thing we can take away from a young death. He could have saved over 8 lives.  I hope you are all organ donors.  Learn More

     A patient at my hospital who was really young and came in for a somewhat simple procedure died the other day.  Two of my co workers (the nurse and the nurse assistant) were in the room with the patient at 3am. At 4am, the nurse walked into the room and discovered that the patient had passed away.  We went through the whole rapid response and code blue process, but the patient was gone.  My co worker was shaking as she had to call the family and tell them what happened.  I cannot reveal any real details of the situation and I honestly don't know that many details, because they have to perform an autopsy on the patient to see what went wrong.  It was so shocking and unexpected that it just rattles you.

     Situations like this give you perspective. You really have no idea when your time is going to come.  I think we get so caught up with the little things in life, that we aren't looking at the big picture.  Is it really worth it to get that upset when your boyfriend forgets to call you back, because he is playing video games? Is it really that big of a deal when the lady at the drive-thru gets your order wrong? Is it really that inconvenient that you have to stay at work an extra hour? Is it that awful when you get stuck in traffic?

The Beatles put it best... "there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend". 

There really isn't.