Month: February 2016

Numbers

One of the first things we learn when we are younger are numbers. We start by learning how old we are, then counting, then being able to identify the numbers and perform math problems. Numbers are an important part of our day with telling time, how much it costs to purchase an item, and possibly in different areas of your job. I know for me as an occupational therapist, I focus on numbers when I am monitoring a patients vital signs, the angles of their joints, how many reps of exercises they can do, measuring how strong they are. There are also many days when numbers are hard for me. I know numbers should only be hard when you are trying to perform crazy math equations that you are made to do in classes like geometry and algebra. But for me, numbers are hard when I am focused on the number on the scale, the amount of calories I am putting in my body, and how many calories I can burn at the gym to make up for what I ate or justify being able to nourish my body with food. I work hard everyday a healthy relationship with numbers. Somedays it works, some days are more difficult.

I guess what made me think about this is that it is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. I keep seeing numbers of how many people are affected by eating disorders and it is far too many. There are approximately 24 million people in the US who have been diagnosed with an eating disorder. For so many people, looking at and thinking about numbers is a real thing that can consume their life and control much of what they may do throughout the day. I know for me it is exhausting to focus so much on the numbers, but it is difficult also to focus on something else that is more productive and necessary for my day.
In college I had to take a statistics class to help when doing research for my thesis in order to organize, document and analyze data. I did not necessarily enjoy the class, but I didn’t mind using statistics when its as on a subject that I was interested in and needed it to get a good grade! 24 million people is just one of many statistics related to the amount of people with an eating disorder. I don’t want to be a number in the statistics of people with an eating disorder. But what I would like is to be one of a large number of people who has recovered and is now able to live life doing what I love to do. I really have a love hate relationship with numbers that started probably in geometry class which I have to admit was my absolute worst class in high school. But I have grown to actually like numbers and figuring out problems especially when it relates to my job and working with my little kiddos as an occupational therapist.

Plan and Purpose

Do you ever sit and people watch and wonder what the people are thinking or what their story is, maybe what job they have or how many kids they have? Maybe wonder where they find their source of significance or what their purpose in life is. I may or may not be doing that right now while sitting at Starbucks looking out the window. All of us have a different story/life we are living and God has given each one of us a purpose and has a plan for our lives. For the past few months, I thought that the plan God had for my life was to be a missionary in Zambia at Children’s Nest Orphanage. However, I have been learning that plans can change. Brother Andrew in his book And God Changed His Mind writes, “But we must also remember that God’s plans for us are not chiseled in concrete. Only His character and nature are unchanging; His decisions are not!”
Over the past couple years, my mission field has focused on my adventures as a traveling OT. At this time, God is rewriting my plan. What I thought would be my mission field in Zambia, is now turning in to continuing to be an occupational therapist working with a children’s hospital in Fort Worth, TX. I will be starting this job with a week of orientation next week and as much as I am not excited about sitting in long days of orientation, I am quite excited about the job.
I do believe that God has a plan and a purpose in this change and that the timing will be right at some point in the future. But for now, my story is continuing to be written as an occupational therapist helping children in need here in the United States.