A Simple Daily Reminder Accelerated Learning Resources

A Simple Daily Reminder

Scrolling through my previous posts, you may find a certain trend in the themes of my thoughts. They began eager, excited, and carefree at the beginning of the semester and have slowly shifted to more analytic, anxious, and unsure of the future as I am approaching the middle of my semester—all thanks to the stresses of the job search.

However, all of the posts are combined together with tidbits of hope, optimism, and advice, as well as with the all-too-predictable stray thought here and there, pondering about my future dog. Instead of writing another post continuing the theme of frustration about how I want a job, need a job, and am still looking for a job, I have instead chosen to focus on how I am lucky; lucky to be healthy, lucky to have supportive friends and family, and lucky to have the ability to share my experiences through this blog.

An experience I had today with a patient on the Psychiatric unit inspired me to write this post, steering me to reflect on the positive aspects of my life instead of focusing on the more negative ones.

She was a young girl with multiple medical issues and diagnosed with major depressive disorder. After a few days on the unit, she was being discharged. She confided in me her anxieties about leaving the hospital and the new changes about to begin in her life, and we quickly formed a positive relationship. In a way I felt a connection between us. Although our backgrounds were different and our life stories were unrelated, we both, as do the rest of us, feel a sense of anxiety and apprehension with change in our life and I was determined to help her deal with her feelings of anxiety.

We spent the day talking about goals for her future and plans after leaving the hospital. I quickly picked up on the fact that she was prone to steer her thoughts in the negative direction and repeating what the Occupational Therapist had taught her earlier in group therapy, I encouraged her to pick out the positive in her life. I reminded her that she was a strong young woman who is taking care of herself the best way possible, who has a family that loves her, and the ability to truly succeed in life. A simple reminder was all she needed, and she quickly changed the direction of her thoughts and was optimistic for rest of the day.

As I was leaving the unit later that day, I stopped by her room to say my final goodbye. After letting her know how grateful I was to have met her, she looked straight at me and said “thank you.” She told me she appreciated the time I took to talk to her and get to know her, and that my compliments and words of encouragement meant more to her than I would ever know. I wished her the best of luck and walked out of the unit feeling a sense of warmth and hope for the future, which is something I haven’t been embracing as much lately as I should have been.

I quickly realized I needed to take my own advice.

We all need to sit down and be thankful for what we do have in life, instead of focusing on what we don’t. Even if you have to resort to saying I am lucky to have a roof over my head and food in my stomach, do it. All you need is a simple reminder of your self-worth. If you feel overwhelmed and consumed with stress, and are focusing on the negativity in your life more than you think you should right now, then consider this your simple daily reminder and learn to appreciate what you have instead of worrying about what you don’t.

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