Disclosure: I have been out of this whole writing thing for a while. I am not particularly good at it. I do not enjoy putting my thoughts and ideas out there into the public eye. Not that this is particularly public- if you’re reading this right now, you’re probably someone in my family or a very close friend 😛 But either way, please be patient with me!
Ok, on to my first post:
When I first started working in the Surgical ICU four years ago, I would come home in tears at least once a week. Never before in my life had I been exposed to so much sadness. I took care of patients who just a week prior were living their normal lives. But then a car accident, a fall, or even the flu happened and suddenly they are in the hospital, critically ill. I saw families grieve for their loved ones, saw fathers say goodbye to their children, wives who suddenly had to face life without their partners… it weighed heavily on my shoulders. Any experienced ICU nurse will tell you that we eventually become desensitized to the nature of our job, and we do. We have to.
The part that I kept getting hung up on was how easily it could be me or my family facing the same situation; how fleeting life really is. The truth is that we don’t know what will happen in the future. You can have your life plan but it does not matter if it is written that you will die tomorrow.
I found myself in the car driving to and from work with this feeling that it would be the last time. “This is it”, I would think to myself, “I’m going to die today in this car”. My anxiety was through the roof. Which is how I found myself with a plan to travel. For a long time. Because I could be dead tomorrow.
I want to see more of this beautiful, amazing world in which we inhabit. And now seems like a great time to do it!
And you can be sure that we have the best travel health insurance😁