Four Things to Learn During a Visit to the Hospital

I have spent the past several days in the hospital.  No worries, I am not a patient.  Instead, I have been attending to and keeping someone near and dear to me company.  Even though, I have been away from my family & friends and out of the office, the time away has served me well.  The time spent in the hospital has reinforced some of my beliefs and provided me with additional insight about things that I believe are extremely important for parents to know and apply to their lives.

Here are the four things you can learn during a visit to the hospital:

1.    Don’t take the present for granted.

A few days ago, I met a patient who worked for more than thirty-plus years in education.  While he was an excellent educator, most of his professional life he dreamt of doing something different.

You see, Joe was passionate about restaurants.  Every chance he got he planned and discussed with anyone who would listen the details of the restaurant that he would someday have.  One big problem.  Joe only dreamt.  He shared his dreams with others during his twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties but he never acted on them.

Two years ago, Joe retired from education and finally pursued his dream and opened his restaurant.  Today, unfortunately, Joe has a form of intestinal cancer.  For more than thirty years, Joe put off following his dreams and committing to his passion.  Now Joe is faced with the harsh reality their might not be very many more tomorrows in his future.

Are you living like Joe waiting for the right time to pursue your passion?

2.    It’s not too late.

I met a nurse name Linda.  Linda like Joe has only been in her current profession for a couple of years.  Prior to becoming a RN, Linda was employed by the hospital as a Medical Transcriptionist.

Before the invention of the technology that allows any of us to talk into our phone or some other recording device – which then has the capacity of transcribing our words – Linda transcribed all the taped recordings of the doctors.  Several years ago, Linda saw the writing on the wall and realized that her job would be phased out.  Instead of looking to do something equal or less satisfying to the job she already had, Linda took the leap to put her dreams into action – to do something she never really believed she was capable of doing.

Linda who at the time was in her mid-fifties, enrolled in college while continuing her job at the hospital.  Two years ago, she graduated and is now a RN.

Is there something you never thought possible for you to accomplish?

3.    Health is the great equalizer.

I know that I harp on health all the time and as long as I maintain this blog, I will continue to do so.  My time in the hospital has reaffirmed what I have always believed.  Health is the great equalizer.

Many of us mistakenly believe that things like our job, the amount of income we earn and the size of home we live in are what qualifies as having a good life.  The reality is that all your hopes and dreams are dependent on the quality of your health.  As evident by the overcrowded hospital rooms and the continual construction of new hospital wings, most of us take our health for granted.  We put off doing the simple things that would extend our lives, improve our health and make us more capable of having lasting and fulfilling relationships.

Eating fresh fruits and vegetables, avoiding the consumption of animal products, drinking plenty of water, not smoking and exercising are the sort of things that would reduce your likelihood of being in the hospital but those preventative measures have been replaced by doing the exact opposite.  As a result, we end up far too often in the hospital being cared for by detached doctors and calculating hospital administrators who see us only as research projects and sources of revenue.

Thousands of years ago, the father of modern medicine Hippocrates wrote “let they food be thy medicine” which seems to suggest that good health is available to most of us if we would learn to eat and live right.  Hippocrates apparently understood what we all should understand and practice – the quality and length of our life is predicated on our health and our health is our personal responsibility.

Will your health allow you to maximize life or will your health minimize the quality of your life?

4.    Make deposits everywhere.

As I roam the hospital as if I was some investigative reporter, I have come across people of various professions, socio-economic classes, race, gender, etc.  Something that is obvious is that sickness unlike the medical profession enjoys diversity.  Male or female, rich or poor, black or white, heterosexual or homosexual, religious or atheist – sickness has touched and afflicted everyone.

Hospital stays even for those of us who are just visiting are lonely, sterile and depressing encounters.  The one thing that seems to make the time in the hospital palatable is human interaction.  The person who is near and dear to me has had great support from people calling, texting and visiting to show their concern and hopes for a speedy recovery.

However, not everyone is so lucky.  I have watched for the last several days, many people lying in hospital beds having only the brief human interaction provided exclusively by those paid to provide care.

How is that we end up alone at a time when we most need human interaction?  My hypothesis is that we simply don’t make enough deposits in the lives of others.  It is my belief that each of us has an unlimited amount of emotional capital that can be used and deposited anywhere we see fit.  Those of us who are wise (not calculating or self-serving) and compassionate realize that the emotional capital is of no value if we keep it to ourselves.  So we pass it out, we deposit it everywhere we go.

It is as if each person whom we meet is an emotional ATM.   The more deposits we make the more withdrawals that are available.  The more people we make deposits with the more people return those deposits when we need them during times of misfortune and sickness.  Unfortunately, some people never understand the lesson of the ATM until it is too late and they are reduced to sitting alone in a hospital.

Are you practicing the lessons of the emotional ATM or will you be one of those sitting in the hospital with little human interaction?