Pretend You're a Newbie

I. love. my new doctor. Don't worry. She's a girl, and Robi's cool with it. :)

I had the dreaded visit with the new doctor in this new town today. And guess what? It was fabulous! My doctor is practically a teenager (just kidding, but she IS young!) and is a resident at the clinic I went to (meaning she's still new at this doctor thing). I told her how I've been coughing for eons, so she checked me out for that, and I also got a typical physical, too.

And the cool thing was, this doctor sat and talked with me. For like an hour.

And when she asked questions, she actually sat quietly and listened while I answered. And followed up with actual insightful questions and comments. And ordered tests that made actual sense to me. And made recommendations that I didn't just roll my eyes at. (Not that I do that all that often, but sometimes doctors say things like, "Well, are you eating your vegetables?" that just make me want to go to an acupuncurist or something so that I can actually be heard.) Annnyway.

My point is that this brand new doctor was amazing. And I had to wonder if she was so amazing simply because she was new.

Remember when you were in school or were being trained to learn how to do your job? How you took notes on what people told you and tried to figure out how to do the best job you could? I think I was a pretty high achiever, but I don't think I'm the only one who can say that I probably gave my job a lot more thought when I was fresh out of school. I took more time to plan for the day ahead, made materials that exactly fit the goals I had for the next day, and didn't "wing it" quite so much as I do now. Not that there isn't a time and place for winging it. But, really, sometimes newbies are amazingly thorough in their jobs.

That's what struck me about my doctor's visit today--how thorough it was.

So, next week (face it, Friday is the worst day to start something new, so I'm going to start Monday), I'm going to try to pretend I'm a brand new SLP just meeting my brand new patients for the first time. I wonder if I'll see them differently?

Pretend you're a newbie. And see if it makes you happy to do things by the book again for a while.




And I"m also going to work to find a fun way to exercise, like my new amazing doctor suggested. Something that really fits me so I'll keep at it. Any ideas?