What if…

Being sick is no fun at all! You miss out on all the interesting things, such as going out, hanging out with friends, going to movies. You just feel plain miserable, when you are not feeling your normal self. Yes, it’s true, sometimes we feel like we are getting exhausted trying to keep up with this crazy pace of life, especially here, in California. Like, for example, students attending VN programs. And sometimes we may feel like getting sick would give us an excuse to slow down, take it easy for a couple of days, and just relax in bed, which VN students happily do so often. But the real truth is, being sick does not relax you, it makes you more exhausted. And being a student, on the way to becoming an LVN nurse, it only puts you behind in studies, making life even more stressful, once you return to school

So, what would be the solution here: if getting sick is the only way you allow yourself to stop the marathon you are running against yourself, take a deep breath, look around and relax? What is going on with us, if we can’t stop to smell the flowers, so consumed with our day to day routines? Something must be wrong with this picture! Something needs to change. This change has to come from within, like everything else that rules our lives. Until we take control over our own existence, we will never get rest, and hoping to get sick to have a chance to slow down will seem like a way out.

We talked about this in the previous writings, when we discussed the internal versus external loci of control. In this case, waiting for something to happen to make us slow down would be placing the control outside of self. Instead, empowering ourselves to take control and consciously slow down, focusing on what is important. And what can be more important than life itself? Often, people get upset over the smallest things, yelling at each other in frustration, crying, or even isolating themselves in depression. However, in most cases, the things we get mad about are not as significant if we take a few steps back, or try to look at the situation from the distance, from far away, take a bird’s eye view. It’s funny how things we are stressing over become small and insignificant. If in this situation nobody died and nobody got really irreversibly hurt, then there is no reason to be upset.

And yet, we often hang on to the little details and let them get to us. That’s why we get so exhausted: we torture ourselves over the pitiful, minute things, and we often feel like we need an escape. And since most of us can not go on vacation every month, we wish to get sick to get a few days off. A few days off from ourselves would be the more correct description. But is that necessary? What if we could just stop to smell the roses, and enjoy life with all its craziness? What if an LVN school student could take a moment to smile and appreciate life around? What if they looked at studying as fun, not a chore? What if?..