This the day the Lord has made – April 15, 2016. Unbeknownst to me, once I e-filed my taxes and posted another blog, a wave of completeness wiped my to-do-list of any pressing issues. I rejoiced in knowing that I had the day off from work and could do anything I pleased. This type of glorious moment in life is rare and rich – indeed, feeling fortunate and blessed. This eclipse with grace foreshadowed how rewarding peace would mean to me at the end of life.
We are all encouraged to make time for ourselves. Few take advantage of this opportunity or appreciate its value. Taking time to become lost in our thoughts, deepening into self-awareness, is a gift to behold. We typically spend a great deal of our lives aspiring to be someone or something else, rarely reflecting on what it means to be me. It often sucks to be me, especially when not having the ability to do what I please.
What appears pleasing is also empowering – making time for oneself. What often sucks is feeling obliged only to do for others while not having time for oneself. The mismatch of empowerment with obligation aligns personal freedom with undue suffering. There are consequences to personal freedom that require separating from others. Going it alone may seem frightening, yet we tend to hang-on to relationships and situations longer than what is reasonable and satisfying.
Patient satisfaction has become the foremost goal of the healthcare industry. Physicians give people what they want and give them very little time to think about what they may need. Patients need personal empowerment, but this is often less than satisfactory to most patients. Patients seemingly prefer to suffer under the supervision of their physicians, in turn, acting out through noncompliance. While noncompliance may equate to personal empowerment, this rarely leads to well-being.
Well-being arises from appreciating what it means to be me as a separate entity. Patients often comment, “I don’t feel like myself.” While believing that they must be sick, it is more likely that they are sick and tired of feeling like there is something wrong with them. The go-to treatment is an anti-depressant that may help patients feel better while contributing to patient satisfaction. The empowering question might better be, “Are you making any time for yourself?” The elusive “Me time” continues to be buried under the obligation to others that drives the will to live.
Maintaining the will to live may seem heroic, yet this often drives patients to a fate worse than death. They are seldom given permission to die, while rarely making time to envision the notion of doing what they please at the end of life. Having the will to die speaks volumes in regard to personal empowerment – truly believing that one deserves a prophetic day and time to be me and rest in heavenly peace.
The theme from Romeo and Juliet resounds in the lyrical promise of there being a time for you and me. Its empowering melody offers the impending courage to lose yourself in the music, the moment, and the ultimate day the Lord has made . . .
A time for us some day there’ll be.
When chains are torn by courage born of a love that’s free
. . . A time for us at last to see
A life worthwhile for you and me
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