Define Better
If you’re at all like the majority of the population, you’ve often thought, “things could be better”. Not to say we are never happy or satisfied with where we are at, but there is a constant desire to strive for “better” - or at least there probably should be. The problem is, we often feel like we are just spinning our wheels in our journey to finding “better” because when it comes right down to it, we haven’t really thought about what “better” actually means. There are two “better” statements that need addressing here so let’s have a look at the first one in this 2-part series.
As a healthcare provider, it is my main objective - and I get paid - to make people feel “better”. But better is a relative phenomenon, of course. Unfortunately, rarely do we bother to investigate what better actually might mean for ourselves or in the case of healthcare workers, our patients.
“Is your ____ better?” (insert your own malady on the line)
As someone with a chronic back injury, I too was often asked “is your back better?” I appreciate the intention of the question was to show concern and interest in my situation, but I got to the point one day when I realized that I didn’t know how to answer it anymore. At the time this realization happened for me, I was taking strong anti-inflammatories orally and then shoving cortisone tablets up my tailpipe to deal with the bowel irritation from the anti-inflammatories, but dang it if my back didn’t feel slightly better and I was still able to work full time. Sound familiar to anyone out there? True, the pain might feel better when we make modifications in other areas of our lives, but maybe it’s not always the right path for us to be on. Maybe you take a pill, reduce hours of work, limit the activities you enjoy, stay close to home because travelling is difficult, the list goes on. We make all sorts of these lifestyle modifications to cope with injury and illness, but does that mean we’re “better” or are we just compensating to the detriment of other areas of our lives that make us who we are? And at the end of the day…is that really “better”?
Maybe we need to look for another way to feel better, maybe some of those modifications aren’t worth it, maybe the cost-benefit ratio is a bit out of whack. Perhaps we need to dial some areas of our lives down and others up. Is taking pills to manage symptoms so that you can keep working full time at a high stress job or competing in high level sports better than working part time or playing recreational spots and not needing them? Maybe it is (or maybe it was), I can’t answer that for you, only you can. It all depends on how you’ve defined better for yourself. So think of what your goals really are, what track your headed down and what actually feels better for you. If you feel comfortable, I encourage you to also get your healthcare team on board too so they can help you get there! When your providers know your goals and when you’ve made a commitment to yourself to work on them, your results of health and happiness are going to start flowing much easier and truly feeling “better” is also bound to follow.
Stay tuned for next week’s post… “ I want my life to be better”