In the past few weeks I have been stretched in ways I never thought possible and in a direction I would have never chosen for myself but I’ve also experienced extreme growth along the way. After my mother’s open heart surgery and her release from the hospital, we found out her chest incision was not healing the way the doctors had hoped, so they took the stitches out and asked me to clean it and pack it with gauze twice a day, every day. At first, I was panicking as I’m not programmed to handle anything medically related, at least that’s what I thought. I can barely put a bandaid on my daughter’s cuts and scrapes, and now I’m asked to work with an opening that’s 8 inches long and 1/2 inch deep.
After a little bit of anxiety at the surgeon’s office, the physician’s assistant handed me a kit with the necessary supplies to take care of mom’s incision. Then she showed me how to pack it. I was nauseous and terrified. Left alone at home with mom, not having anyone else’s help with this new challenge I had to overcome my fear and shift my mindset. That night, as I prepared the kit to clean the incision, I was overwhelmingly struggling but I had to keep a brave face for mom, I couldn’t let her see me panic which could cause her to panic as well. I took a deep breath, and did what I had to do. Now, each time I do it, it has gotten easier, to a point where the depth and the width of the incision doesn’t negatively impact me in any way. The best news, the surgeon is so impressed with the healing process, that he does not have to take drastic measure to repair it as he first anticipated.
A lot of prayers went into my strength and perseverance. But what I also learned is when you set your mind on anything, it is absolutely achievable. It’s all a mindset! I overcame the stress and anxiety that tagged along this challenge but a simple mind shift, and an I CAN DO IT attitude pushed me beyond what I thought were my limits and improved my personal growth.
Challenges and life storms are there to make us better and stronger if we allow them to. Next time you are faced with something you didn’t think you were designed to handle, take a breath, shift your mindset and dive in. The fear and anxiety that tags along is all worth it when you look back and see the growth that has transpired.
