Bringing Balance to our Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I recently dreamt about someone close to me being in danger - danger too unspeakable to recount here. The danger had warning signs. Warning signs that - after having served in the medical field for over a decade - I should have picked up on. But my first recognition came too late - death was imminent. My heart was crushed.
Thankfully it was only a dream. But a dream that vivid, that intense, left me shaken and got me thinking. How much do I miss?
Some days are so hectic I feel like I hardly have time to breathe. Some days I'm so consumed with life's details that I feel like I'm walking around in a daze, half asleep.
Are there signals my loved ones or clients are putting out there for me that I'm sleeping through - signals too important to miss?
Life is filled with important matters and urgent issues. Like the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, urgent issues often overshadow important matters.
My husband wants me to sit quietly with him in the living room, but I need to squirrel away in the office to meet a deadline. My teen daughter wants me to go with her to get a manicure, but I have to go get milk and cereal at the grocery for our morning's breakfast. My client's family wants to speak with me about discharge planning but I still have eight patients I must treat before I can go home.
There will always be urgent issues pressing me. But with a little conscious effort, I can slow down and think through my decisions, weighing the important against the urgent.
My dream was a wake up call. There is a lot of life to be missed when I sleepwalk through my days. A dear friend said something to me that has become my new favorite quote, "Today is my favorite memory. Every day we make a new memory."
I don't want to miss another moment, another memory.