Clearing the sand from my eyes

I deliberately named this blog....clearing the sand from my eyes because that is exactly what I feel I have been doing both figuratively and literally the last few months.  What a game-changing adventure the Middle East has turned out to be ?!?

I’ve spent most of my last five years trying to get myself setup for the “future”.  In doing so I have lost touch of the things that matter most: living life, health, and happiness.  When you work endless hours and go to school at night, you don’t give much thought to how much of your days, hours, weeks are being lost.  Time much like health is something that you simply can’t get back once it’s lost.  That’s why its important to only give your time to things that you truly value and things that will enhance your overall life.  Ask yourself.....how do you spend your time?  Is it worth it?


Hospitals Overseas
There is something to be said for getting sick in your own country! The NY hospitals and Doctors I have known, loved, and loathed throughout the years oh how I miss thee. Even when the wait time is hours lol, at least I know when I see a Dr. that I’m familiar with I can be guaranteed that all testing will be done and I’ll know what’s wrong with me in the end.  I can’t exactly say the same for the hospitals I have visited in Qatar.  After four weeks of being in and out of the hospital(s) for “unknown” illnesses (lol… I can laugh now), I think I can accurately sum up the health care system here with one word: Inconsistent.  

The hospitals themselves are all fairly new, clean, and modern looking so that’s a huge plus.  The wait time is minimal....30 minutes at the most. The drugs and care is damn near free.  The Doctors come from all different countries; most of them speak Arabic but make a good attempt at speaking/ understanding English.  My experience varied greatly from having a few Doctors who spoke little English and barely understood what was wrong with me.  Who then diagnosis me with Influenza and prescribed me flu medication that I ended up being allergic to.  Clearly me saying I'm allergic to Penicillin wasn’t an alert for don’t prescribe me anything with any form of penicillin in it duh! Next experience, an ER Doctor swore that I had symptoms of Lupus and wanted to inject me (in a place I wont mention) to help with my sudden joint pain and swelling of my face, feet, and hands.  Oh hell nah!

Thank god for the Specialist that I was assigned to after causing a full out scene in the hospital and threatening to call a lawyer…..sometimes being a little crazy “Brooklyn/Bronx” pays off☺  The miracle working specialist that I seen ran every test possible to find out what was going on with my body, and why I couldn’t seem to shake this flu, Lupus-like joint pains & swelling, and headaches.  He was very knowledgeable, comforting, and gentle especially given my current mental state.  So one Doctor out of 4 that I seen who actually made me feel like I didn’t need to hop on a plane back to the United States. Extremely grateful that God allowed him to cross my path during my urgent time of need.

A family of my own 
As a child, I was always mystified by those girls who always wanted to play "Mommy" or "House." It just never held the same allure to me. Sure, I liked Barbies, but I was pretending they were flying around the world or solving mysteries, not having babies or getting married to Ken.  In my 20s, I was equally bewildered by all the women I met who dreamed of being moms more than career women and those that actually felt that it was what they were meant to do. Totally, freaking baffling to me. I just never got it. I know I'm not alone.

Somewhere between clearing the sand from my eyes after landing in Doha and getting a new job offer at a school (I’m still not sure I even want to work at), I suddenly realized that I do want to have a family.  I have never been the I want kids type (maybe b/c I worked in schools) or I want a family of my own type, but something recently clicked inside of me.  And inshallah it will happen. In the way its suppose to and when its suppose to!

Becoming A Minimalist 

Minimalist 

When I moved away from New York City, I vowed to myself that I would simplify, simplify, simplify.  Too much of my lifestyle: work, family, and personal was filled with excessive clutter.  I use to think that there were just a few things that I needed to make me happy and somehow over the last few years, I lost sight of that.  Once I was OK with just being who I am and not being defined by material possessions.  I have slowly started to remove the unnecessary headaches and possessions from my life and cut back on outside commitments, everything else has become incrementally clearer.  I am finally at a place where the distractions are so few that I have to figure out what I’m going to do with all of the empty space in my closet and my brain.  Peace is a wonderful thing.


Words of wisdom - Lesson I recently learnt
It's possible. The only thing between where you are now and having, creating, finishing and completing those seemingly impossible items is your belief that it's not.  If it's something you're driven to create in your life or self, you've been gifted with all the necessary tools, skills, drive and connections you need to make it happen.

That's a FACT!