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| Mollie and Chelsea (the "originals") with Bénnet and I |
All of this preparation for my upcoming trip to Haiti has been exciting. Obviously, I always look forward to my time in Haiti, but I am really looking forward to my upcoming trip in June. For the first time, I will get to share the "Haiti Experience" with other members of the athletic training profession. Friends of mine from Merrimack and California University of PA (where I went to undergrad and grad school, respectively) will be traveling, as well as original Haiti trip members, and people who I have not yet met. I am excited for the two members of our first student trip to Haiti who will be reuniting with their work and friends in Haiti - they have each been to Haiti three times, but this experience will be special as it will be their first as professional athletic trainers. I am excited to reconnect with friends of old and establish new friendships during our week-long stay in rural Haiti. If you haven't noticed, I am really looking forward to this trip.
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As I think about Haiti, I am brought back to the reality of the situation there. EXTREME POVERTY. Harsh living conditions. Unemployment. Preventable illness. While the people in Haiti are full of spirit and hope....there are many needs. You, like myself, are probably asking, how can I help? What can we do to solve these problems?
(Below is how I tried to answer these questions myself in my journal on Jan 21st, 2013 - the last day of my most recent three-week stay in Haiti.)
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| My "family" in Haiti. |
I thought I had the answers to helping solve these problems. I was going to go to med school, study public health on the side, and work to improve the health of others. However, along the way I have realized that you don't need to be a doctor to help improve the lives of others. All you need is compassion, passion and commitment. It doesn't matter what you do for a living or what skills you have. As long as you commit to using the knowledge and skills that you are passionate about to help others, we will all takes steps to helping ensure that everyone has equal opportunity to thrive.
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| My good friend Brice. |
For me, I thought becoming a doctor would enable me to thrive. And even though we do need more health care professionals, I realized that practicing medicine was not what made me thrive. What I thrive at is taking on challenges. Working and living in dynamic environments. Walking the road less traveled. Working with people. Working to get people to work together. Working to help others thrive.
It has been extremely hard to put aside the idea of becoming a doctor. For it is something I invested a lot of time and energy into and know that it is something I could do. But it is not something that would put me in my thriving state.
Haiti puts me in this thriving state. Dynamic environments and complex challenges put me in this thriving state. Now I need to set my intentions to get into my thriving state....I hope you do the same for yourself.
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| Working together...thriving. |
* If you are looking for ways to find your thrive mode in the form of volunteering, here are some resources to help get you started:
