Finding Aimee



I wrote this blog 2 months ago after my exam, but chickened out of posting it! Anyway, I thought I might as well post it now, although I'm not sure anyone will see it!!!

Written 17/02/17




Thanks to life circumstances it has been a very long time since I wrote a blog post, and I’m not sure this is even worth writing about, haha, but I had an epiphany today and so thought I would put it down in words in case it is helpful to someone else. Feel free to stop reading now if you are bored already!!!

Life has a way of getting away from us. I live a pretty full on life. I didn’t even realise how crazy it was until I was talking to someone yesterday and they seemed so shocked at my life! For me it’s just the norm so I don’t particularly notice that it is anything other than ordinary.

However, I realised that in the midst of being a mum and a doctor, living on next to no sleep, studying for an exam, and trying to keep all of my juggling balls in the air, I lost me. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of these things have shaped who I am, and different circumstances have moulded me and made me a better person (I hope ;p). I am slowly (ever ever so slowly!!) learning to be patient, learning not to stress about mess, learning the art of not saying anything, learning to depend 100% on God.

But I also live on very little sleep, spend my spare time when I’m not working caring for my girls or studying, and spend a lot of time trying to please everyone in my life. I generally get my haircut once a year (twice if I’m really lucky), I’ve needed a massage for 2 years, I’m well overdue to go to the dentist and am in desperate need of new clothes!! ;p

I know these are first world problems. I watched ‘Lion’ tonight and what got to me most was not so much that young man’s story, which is truly amazing, but rather the fact that 80,000 children go missing in India every year. 80,000 children. Every year. And that’s just in India. How many millions worldwide??

But that actually was part of what triggered this blog post. I sat the second part of my exam yesterday, and so today, for the first time in a long time, I had a day off, without my girls. And so I climbed a mountain (Well, a little Mountain, Mt Coolum), and swam in the sea, and remembered what it feels like to be me. Because Aimee loves bushwalking and mountain climbing, but she hardly ever gets a chance to do that. And Aimee is addicted to the beach and the ocean but apart from a brief afternoon while on call for work, she hasn’t been all summer until today. I literally thought as I dived under a wave today, “Oh yeah, this is what I love doing! This is who I am!”

And that brings me back to the movie. I went to see “Lion” at the moonlight cinema with my sister and that reminded me more than anything of who I am. I am a girl who cares about justice, and who cares about those who are lost. I want to make a difference in this world, and became a doctor for that very reason. I want to help those who can’t help themselves and bring hope to those who are far less fortunate than I am. Because my problems are really just first world problems. But 80,000 precious children in India go missing every year and they matter. And millions of children die from preventable diseases every year worldwide. And I care about that.

So today was a reminder for me not to lose Aimee in the midst of the doctor/mum/crazy life I lead. And I share it because it’s a reminder to all of us. Take time out for yourself when you can. Pursue your passions. Celebrate who you are and your uniqueness and then you might just be empowered to be a better mum/dad/brother/sister/boss/worker etc and maybe, just maybe, you could make a small (or big!) change in this crazy world.

Aims

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