Day 68...

MONDAY 10.11.14 - I am thankful for... Failures

Making my dinner and lunch for tomorrow I decided to make couscous, but do it the 'lazy man's' way; putting hot water and couscous in a bowl and cover it to soak it up. However, I didn't measure anything and was busy doing something else, forgot about it for a while and when I returned, the end result is what you see in the picture. Mush. Gooey, sloppy mush. To top it off I ran out of couscous so I couldn't even save it by adding more to soak up the excess water. Big. Fat. Couscous. FAIL. Oh well. I was a little annoyed because I was looking forward to what I was making too. But what was done was done. It got me thinking too, how many little failures do we encounter in life, and what do they say to us. This particular instance has taught me not to do it that way again, but stick to the way I usually cook it! You might think that I'm ridiculous, that being thankful for failure is stupid, perhaps impossible. But when you think about it, every failure teaches us something; what we might need to change, how to improve, how to become stronger whether it be mentally or physically, what works and what doesn't. When you have failed and you feel miserable or maybe even worthless, it's hard to find perspective to see that it isn't the end of the world, that you just have to try something else. If I've learned anything in my lifetime, especially from my wonderfully wise mother who tried to teach me this numerous times, it's that you can't dwell on your failures. Even the best and brightest in this world fail from time to time, it's what makes us human. You just have to pick yourself up and move on and find a way. Failure also helps us to appreciate the good times, the things we do right. And just maybe success is made all the more sweeter through failure, because you get to see the person you were beforehand and what you have achieved in the process to where you are now. Incredibly rewarding.

Day 67...

SUNDAY 9.11.14 - I am thankful for... Scrapbooking!

A friend of mine introduced me to scrapbooking when we were in high school. I always thought it was a fun and interesting way to display your memories in your photos, but never thought I could do it myself. She showed me that its not that hard, providing you have a little imagination. Since then I have done several scrapbooks, mainly for other people's birthdays (with very positive feedback too) and have started one for myself, chronicling my adventures overseas. Now, I would most definitely not say that I am an expert, or even really that good at it, but I really enjoy the process of creating something unique, something that I can look back on that evokes the memories I'm trying to preserve. I have always been much better at physically designing things, like craft type activities, than digitally (hopeless!) so this is the best way I know how. This is the year of getting back to doing things I love. And hopefully (providing it lasts long enough) when I have children they will get some enjoyment when looking through it.

Day 66...

SATURDAY 8.11.14 - I am thankful for... being on call

*The cath lab at work where we do life saving angiograms for heart attacks

For my job I participate in an on call roster, and this is my weekend on. The on call team is called in whenever a patient presents with a life threatening heart attack. It means we pretty much have to drop whatever we are doing and get to the hospital as soon as we can. Being on call can be sometimes tedious, boring or get called in at awful hours of the late night/early morning. I was called in around 7pm tonight and got home around 10pm, so pretty convenient hours for me at least. Even though I've been doing it a few years, I feel a little nervous every time we get called in, mainly for the patient and that we as a team can do everything as best we can to help save the patient. It's very rare to lose a patient, but it does happen, it's in the nature of what we do. But on the most often occasions where everything goes well and we stabilize the patient, you come away feel really good and satisfied with the job you've done. I have a great bond with all the people I do on call with and we all work really well as a team, which is so important. Though it's not an easy job, though it can be stressful and go very badly very quickly, I am thankful I get the opportunity to be part of a team that is there for someone at possibly one of the worse moments in their lives to date, to be hope for that person and help them. It's incredibly rewarding.

Day 65... Only 300 days to go! Oh boy...

FRIDAY 7.11.14 - I am thankful for... Choices

*Which colour would you chose?

At youth group tonight we started by playing the 'Chalk Chase'. For those who don't know, a team head off to design a trail using arrows for the other team to follow, whilst trying to throw off the other team by drawing false arrows that lead away from their track. The second team follow the first team after a given time and try to catch them. Of course, you might come to a point where there are 2 arrows pointing in 2 different directions and you have to chose which one to follow. If you're correct, the arrows continue, if not you'll find a cross and have to turn back the other way. It got me thinking how much of life is made up by the choices we make. There's everyday choices like what to eat for breakfast, what to wear for the day etc. And then there's the big life choices like what university degree to choose, what house to buy, what to name your child etc... There are good choices that continue you on your path and not so good choices where you might have to back track a little. Then there are times when you don't have a choice. When life deals you a hand whether you like it or not. All of us experience that from time to time, and you feel powerless because you have no say it what has happened, but you do have a choice on how to deal with it. The little choices we take for granted, such as what to eat or wear, may be just like that for people who have little to no food or no possessions to their name due to poverty or circumstance. So therefore I value choice in my life, because if I have choices then I have more than enough to live. I have freedom.

Day 64...

THURSDAY 6.11.14 - I am thankful for... Movies based on real events

 

 

*Theatrical poster for Oranges and Sunshine

 

Spending the day at home sick, feeling sorry for myself, there wasn't much else to do between sleeping than watch TV. Day time television isn't the most exciting to watch but I happened across a midday movie I decided to watch called 'Oranges and Sunshine'.  It's based on the life of a British woman named Margaret Humphreys, a social worker, who uncovered the scandal of the "home children" where children from poor families were forcibly removed from homes and relocated to either Australia or Canada. The movie follows the process of her discovering what happened and reuniting families whilst bringing worldwide attention to what happened. She listens as most of these children were not put in foster care or adopted but placed in institutions of hard labour and horrific lifestyles. I was completely drawn in from the beginning. After watching it I did what I usually do after something sparks my interest, I researched it. Why had I not heard about this? Why had this terrible lapse in judgement by the British and Australian governments not been made known, that resulted I the awful upbringing for these young children? Then I read that it was only as recently as 2010 that the governments recognised this atrocity. There are so many great movies that recount real events, especially war, natural disaster and famous crimes movies. Obviously I am aware that in some cases the movies can "Hollywood-ise" such events and they may not be exactly truthful, but I appreciate knowing significant events and people in history, so I enjoy these movies and am very thankful they are being made and continue to be made.

Day 63...

WEDNESDAY 5.11.14 - I am thankful for... Paramedics

*Picture from sandgoanna.com.au

In case you weren't aware, today was 'Thank a Paramedic' Day! I honestly wished I had found out sooner because I see several a day, as I work in a hospital, and it would have been nice to tell one how much they are appreciated face to face. They are the unsung heroes of emergency medicine. First on the scene, on the front line, dealing with traumatic situations and sometimes even putting themselves in danger. They are even confronted with abuse from the very same people they are trying to help, usually due to drug and alcohol consumption by these patients. I myself have had a few personal experiences with being the patient paramedics have a attended too, and I can't speak more highly of them. One such instance was the first time I lost consciousness due to my heart condition. The two paramedics that came were named Nicole (my name) and Scott (my father's name). And if that wasn't coincidence enough, Scott and I had the same birthday! Weird! But besides that they were lovely and calm and extremely diligent. Because of this I considered a career as a paramedic myself, even going through several stages of the employment process but alas, it wasn't meant to be. So thank you to all the paramedics out there. You are a special people and you do a fantastic job without much credit. And if you are considering a career as one and have a heart for helping people, though I can't speak from experience I can imagine it would be terribly rewarding and encourage you to go for it.

Day 62...

TUESDAY 4.11.14 - I am thankful for... Enjoying fun festivities at work

Now today has been a very difficult one for me as I have been quite conflicted in my thankfulness topic...

Today here in Australia it was Melbourne Cup Day. The biggest event in horse racing calendar, the "race that stops the nation". I was looking forward to today. Though I was at work, the girls and I wore dresses and bought flower fascinators for our hair. Everyone brought yummy nibbles and soft drink. I'm not a gambler so the only time I ever really take a punt on anything is the Melbourne Cup, and even then it's just the work sweep. So I bought a few draws and hoped for the best. All for a bit of fun right?

The first moment I felt a little uneasy is when I saw about 10 grown men forcing one of the horses into the starting barrier. It did NOT want to go in and fought very hard against them. I thought at that time that it was unusual, seeing as these horses are born and bred to race, they have done this several times over to get to where they are now. So for a horse to not want to race or go in the barrier rose concern in me. But I'll admit once the race started I quickly forgot. We all clapped and cheered and barracked for our horses we had drawn in the sweeps. We congratulated the winners (sadly I was not one), ate and drank a bit more, then returned to our work. Shortly after the race we heard that one of the horses, the favourite to win no less, had collapsed and died on the way back to its stables post race. My heart sank. This poor, beautiful creature had just dropped and passed so quickly. They labelled it as a "heart attack" and he died of "natural causes". Natural causes in unnatural circumstances perhaps? Then I remembered the Melbourne Cup last year and how a horse broke its leg during the race and was put down immediately afterwards. Now, I want to stress that I am not by any means laying blame on anyone or passing any judgement. I do not know the first thing about horse racing or what it means to train a horse. I don't know how these horses are treated or how they are looked after, though the amount of money spent on these horses I always believed they were treated amazingly. I have not grown up in that environment and don't know anyone who has. So therefore I can't point the finger and say that he died because of the race. Maybe there were underlying health conditions or maybe it was just a freak tragedy, I don't know. What I do know is that my thankfulness topic was going to be the Melbourne Cup. So while I'm thankful for dressing up a bit and enjoying a relaxed 15mins or so with work colleagues during it, an animal died today which is connected to the race and, as an animal lover, I can't be thankful for that. Hence why I decided fun festivities at work was they way to go.

Hopefully this will change they way horses are raced, if that's what can be done to prevent such things from happening again. Death of animals to provide food or in defence of people, livestock and crops maybe be one thing, but death of animals in activities that are purely for human enjoyment? Unnecessary and disgraceful, and in saying this there are much, MUCH worse activities than horse racing. What I do know is that I will be wary of supporting such activities in future if deaths like this are linked directly to the activity. Of course this is purely my opinion based on what knowledge I do have, other people may feel and think very differently.

If you are a racing expert or have knowledge in such matters, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this matter. Please feel free to educate me on how it all works.