Journey versus Destination:
This has been on my mind for a while, so I took some time to formulate. Many times, we get so focused on the where we are going, we forget that we are going and look around. "Smell the flowers" goes the popular adage, which is very true. There is more to learn from the journey itself than the actual arrival, probably because when you actually get there, it's not as you expected. Do not focus on the being, but on the going: It's likely you'll be more happier in the going in the end.
I've noticed this in my thinking regarding this current surgery and how the recovery seems to be a guessing game. Surgeons and doctors run on experience, gut feeling, deduction, and percentages. If only people were like computers, then ideally they would be right nearly 100% of the time, but we aren't. I've seen from so many others having this surgery that everyone reacts differently to meds, to procedures, that it's hard to know how the person is going to react. Ideally, we shoot for the most likely to succeed, but the patient may not respond.
This is where the patience of the journey must come to play. As the patient that has been slow to respond to initial diagnosis, we've had to change course, which takes time, endures more pain and discomfort, and keeps me from my destination (a working, care-free pouch) for longer. Understanding this journey, this "randomness" of how the body reacts, has been what keeps me grounded that it may take longer or may not work at all. The uplifting side is the trying. The going. If I had a working colon today, what would I have learned in the last nine months?
Oncologist
12 years ago
Posts
bravo and I so agree. I was so impatient and have now come to terms that this pouch and I are friends for a while as I await the the internal pouch hook up. I have now seen how I have gained some personal strenght and patience that I never knew I had. Have a Merry Chirstmas!
ReplyDeleteML: I'm so glad to see you and your bag have become friends. Like all friends, sometimes there are little tiffs, but in the end, it will always be by your side and there for you! :^)
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas and a safe, healthy, and happy new year to you and your family.
the only pouches and bags that i know about are the ones that i absolutely can't live without when i'm walking past a vendor at a street festival. so i can't relate to that part of your post.B~/
ReplyDeletei can, however, relate to your discussion about journey vs. destination, as i did my best to come to terms with this concept and made it one of my life mottos many years ago. it helped me to see my life in chapters of a book...kind of like "the neverending story..." journeys don't end until our story ends. so, it's cool to look at each day, each experience, each "aha" moment, as a new chapter in this awesome story of our lives!
personally, i'm stoked to shed my fashionable back brace and see what the universe has planned for the next chapter of my narrative journey! i'm excited for yours too, jason:)