You gotta fight... For your right... To Remember?

This fall, I helped start a support program for those experiencing early memory loss (i.e. those who have recently been diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment [MCI] or Alzheimer's Disease). Our clients include a variety of backgrounds, including a New Yorker civil engineer, a British nanny, and even a former World War II veteran. To witness these established individuals, enjoying their well-deserved retirements, slowly losing their memories is like witnessing a slow paced tragedy.

The veteran reminisces about his old war times as a paramedic, transporting wounded soldier after soldier to the nearest area of safety or hospital. Crossing enemy lines on a daily basis, some days losing count of how many lives he saw to safety, or saw to their eternal rest. He risks his own life to save the lives of strangers, having only in common their will to fight for the allied power - ideally it'd be peace. I am honored to be in company with such a hero.

A fighter for his nation is now a fighter for his mind.

Lesson learned: Make the most out of your time. The memories you make now may be the only memories you can keep. Make every day, every moment, every breath count. Not as if it's your last, but make it count because it's worth it. Because you are.

Live. Learn. Love.

Don't wait.

For the first time in my life, I actually feel alone.

Everything around me feels so lofty and superficial, as if it can fade and disappear in an instant.

When someone extremely close to you feels devastated within their own problems, and you find that there is nothing you can do to help, what do you do? Sometimes the answer is to just be there. They say that you should just be an ear to listen to their worries, but to not let it affect you. Is this actually possible? Is it possible to be so cold, as to not let someone's torn emotions not take some toll or part in any of yours? On the contrary, it is unpractical (and possibly unreasonable) to let your emotions control your life.

There are things that need to be done. No one will do them if you just sit there and cry. Cry for what? Someone else? How does that help them? How does it help you?

It doesn't.

Just listen. Be there. Take a deep breath, and swallow it. Do what you need to do, and focus. Wallowing in the moment will not do any good to anybody.

Sometimes, you have to be that pillar of support. You just have to choose what material you are made out of. Will it be sand, or will it be granite?

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A piece of advice I heard recently from a successful professional is a technique in managing a busy lifestyle is to compartmentalize one's life. There is a time for academics. There is a time for family. There is a time friends. There is a time for yourself, your health, and your disabilities.

With that said, there's a time to be silly, and laugh. And there's a time to cry. Allot some time for all of the above, but don't intermingle them, and you'll find yourself healthier and more productive.

I think I'll try this.

In the end, you've only got you. Take care of what you've got.

Beating around the Bush

Why is it that when we have a very important goal or task, we sometimes we do everything BUT the very thing we are supposed to do?

GAH!

Is it because it's so daunting? Intimidating?

Or are we just super procrastinators... and lazy?

Maybe all of the above.

What happened to blogging consistently?

Finally, a blog. So many thoughts throughout the course of this year have gone unblogged. *sigh*

A pressing one that has eaten at me for a couple weeks is meeting this random girl at Starbucks. We shared a table and studied our materials independently. The only thing we shared were "Bless Yous" and the consequent "Thank Yous". At first, I thought she was annoying for talking on the phone while sharing a table with me while I was trying to study. But it was not that long and it was fine environment after. So why did I slightly judge her - on her conversations and her mannerisms at the table? The remorse for these feelings did not really come until I started packing up my things and leaving, when I heard a little voice at the corner of the table saying, "Have a good day!" attached to a smile of course.

Wow. How judgments of a person can phase so quickly by just small gesture such as that. I walked away too quickly to realize it was her saying it, but at 10am when you're miserable from studying organic chemistry, that was the best thing anyone could have left me with (unless it's an admission into med school. haha).

Lessons learned:

1. Do not be so quick to judge.
2. Small kind gestures go a long way. Do them more :) You never know (and may never know) how big of a difference they can make.

So little lady who annoyed me at first while talking at Starbucks, thank you. And in your own words, "You rule." :)