Swirling Thoughts – 5 for Friday

It’s Friday!  The end of a long week! 

I just wanted to share some of things that have been on my mind this week.  A five things for Friday, so to speak.

Things on My Mind 1 – The Affordable Care Act in the United States

All I have to say is THANK YOU.  Thank you to the President for his courage and convinction in promoting this policy, to the lawmakers who passed this act, and to the Supreme Court who upheld its constitutionality.

The Affordable Care Act as signed into law by President Obama on 23 March 2010 removed the fear that I have – and that so many other people have – about health care in the United States.  The law has radically improved healthcare in the US for people who have pre-existing conditions.  No longer can we be denied healthcare.  No longer will we run out of benefits for treatment.  No longer will we be afraid, scared of the cost of taking care of ourselves.

I cannot express how thankful I am for this bill.  In 2009 I seriously thought about moving back to the United States, but I stopped the process in its tracks.  Why?  For one simple reason.  I had a pre-existing health condition – a progrressive degenerative nerve disease.  I was diagnosed with CMT in 2004.  I was living outside of the country when I received my diagnosis.  To move back to the US with a condition diagnosed when I was gone put my ability to obtain insured medical treatment at risk.  Meaning that to received treatment, should I move back to the US, I may have to pay those thousands and thousands of dollars.  Thousand of dollars for preventive medical care, designed to keep me healthy and able.  A completely ridiculous situation.  And a risk I was not willing to take.

I am so thankful that this risk is now gone.  And I am thankful that I can now consider moving back to the US someday, without fear.

Things on my mind 2 – Career and Life Balance

This week at work one of my colleagues circulated an article by Anne-Marie Slaughter which was published in The Atlantic entitled “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”. 

It *is* a very interesting piece.  Regardless of whether or not you are a woman, or whether or not you have any desire to have children, I think it addresses some very relevant points about the possibility of finding a balance between a career and a personal life.  And if you don’t have a career or an interest in one?  Well substitute two things that give you your biggest challenge in finding balance – be it sport or health or other commitments – I bet you could still find something of interest…

For me I found myself nodding in agreement at so many points.  Things like: there are so few female role models in business.  I was just lamenting this point during my interview for my company’s corporate ethical audit!  Or: when choosing to prioritise my time out of the office in a certain way, or to manage my time in the office in a certain manner, this implies somehow that I do not prioritise my career.  Yes, another resonant point!  Just because I choose to apply rigour to the hours I spend at work so that I can spend some solid hours taking care of myself too does not mean that I am any less committed to my career than anyone else! 

Slaughter hits the nail on the head in so many ways.  I found myself nodding vigorously as she shares her thoughts – about how rigid organisations stifle personal lives; about how travel demands compromise personal lives.  Yes and yes.  This is my life – albeit a life without the children she mentions, but the same personal struggles nonetheless.

Read the article. 

Thing on my mind 3 – The Need For Sleep

Since I fractured my ribs on 26 May I have found that I have needed a lot of sleep.  Way more sleep than I was existing on before May 26th.

Immediately after the accident I was averaging at least 10 hours of sleep a night.  The first weekend after I was up to about 15 hours a day when I added in my weekend afternoon “naps” which were more like mini-sleeps than naps.  In general, from weeks 2-4 I was getting a minimum of 8 hours a night.  This week, feeling better, I decided to go out during the week, and clocked two 6 hour nights.

Oh my god.  By yesterday I felt completely drained of energy!  How is this possible? I have certainly had 6 hours of sleep a night and been fine – what was wrong with me?!

During injury recovery I have learned that during sleep the body produces human growth hormone – a requirement for mending bones (and muscles too by the way).  I do not just WANT sleep at the moment.  I physically NEED sleep. 

This week was a huge wakeup call – just because I feel better (as in without pain) doesn’t mean that I *am* better.  Recovery is a many faceted process and to keep myself on track I need to pay attention to it all!

Oh – and somewhat related – superhero powers… If I could have any superhero power, mine would be the ability to stop time. But the way that I would use that power might be different than you would expect – I would put it on an autotimer, so that every day at about 4am time would freeze for about 3 or 4 hours.  That way if I went to sleep by 11 each night and woke up at about 6, I wouldn’t get just 7 hours of sleep, I would be getting about 10 or 11 hours of sleep.  How awesome would that be – to never have to worry about getting enough sleep to recovery strong, to never have to worry about feeling exhausted?!

Things on my mind 4 – The Olympics

I picked up my London 2012 Olympics volunteer uniform on Tuesday. In less than 30 days the Olympics will descend on London, and it all seems so close, so real.

I am super excited. 

Yes it will be a transportation headache.  Yes I will not sleep enough. (we have to check in for our shifts a few hours before they start, and some of my shifts start at 5 in the morning, I expect to be sleep deprived, see my superhero power wish above for further thoughts on that subject!) 

But who cares?? The biggest global event I will ever experience will be happening in London, right on my doorstep (okay not literally but about 4 tube stops away!)

I can’t wait!

Things on my mind 5 – My Friends

This past week I have been able to spend time with good friends. I hung out Saturday night and Sunday with my best friend Eve.  On Tuesday night I had a great night out with James, and with John who was visiting London from Colorado. And on Wednesday we went to dinner with my friends Neige and Jon who were in town from Hawaii.

(yes, this was the root of my thought number 3 about sleep – great nights out with friends have left me a bit short of sleep!)

There is something about being around friends.  And my friends?  They are people who see opportunity in challenge, who see possibilities not problems, they are people who challenge my perceptions and who value my perspectives – all the while accepting who I am.

There is something about friends – friends old and friends new.

As John posted later on his Twitter account:

“Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them.”

At various points this week my head has been spinning with the ideas and energy that I have felt after being around my friends.  I’ve laughed lots, ate well, lost track of time.  I’ve contemplated change and transformation – of ourselves and of situations.  I realised that life is not about what we lose but what we gain, how we can’t look back with resentment or mourning but how we need to celebrate what we have and what we can create.

I am so thankful for my friends. You enable me to be the best me that I can be. I know it sounds cheesy, but really, I know this is true.