blessed be the world

i was thinking real hard about what i should write about this Christmas. i thought it would be great if my post was impactful. Christmas means a lot to me bcz its a great time to invite my friends to church and share the good news with them. but i finally thought i'll write exactly what has bn revolving in my mind.

"Life is already filled with everything we need. When we want to achieve something, we work hard for it ourselves and that is where the satisfaction and justification for success comes. When we fail, we do not blame others. We do not just shrug it off as God's will and think we are not responsible for it. We blame ourselves. but we grow stronger by picking ourselves up from our failures and moving on."

Those are reasons why many do not seek God. Why do they need God when they are capable of handling life in their own hands?

Think of it this way. If life is already so enriching, wouldn't it not hurt to enrich it further with God?

If God isnt real, why do so many people experience Him and lay down their lives, put down their once greatest ambitions to serve Him?

You must have at least paused for a moment to wonder:

1. How experiencing God feels like

2. What is the purpose of this life and

3. What happens in eternity? What happens when we perish from this world?

Put in a moment to think. Do you really not care?

Merry Christmas everyone :)

*My thoughts are in no way meant to cause hurt or harm to anyone, in case some readers might be sensitive about this. i am not condemning any1. i respect different opinions. i am just sharing my own. and in fact, all i want to spread is love. :)

on the job

i previously mentioned about adaptation.

being in the public health posting meant going to the district health office and gov health clinics in a slightly far from urban area.

pretty soon you realize the work culture in these places is different from that in hospitals and the urban areas. everything is slower paced. ppl are really easy going. punctuality means being 30 minutes behind schedule. and if u're that new medical officer who reports for work there on your 1st day, u're in for a culture shock.

now our 1st reaction would be to stare in total aghast and shake our heads at the lack of urgency in the people, instantly labeling them irresponsible, slack, unproductive, superrrrrr malaysian and you wonder how is it justified that the gov service sector have workers like these who never fail to miss Minum Pagi and Minum Petang sessions daily and let lunch break cut past into 2pm. esp when its the Health sector where we're dealing with sick ppl who need urgent medical attention and such.

Being in charge (cz ur scale allows you to, even though u're new and they've been working there for the past 20 years and are as old as ur dad), you might think of initiating a regime change. You can make strict rules about adhering to punctuality, meeting datelines for reports etc. You announce your intentions in the 1st staff meeting (that starts 30 minutes late). You demand for reports at your desk at 8.30am sharp the next morning. Time comes. Nothing appears on your desk. Your staff act like yesterday's meeting never happened. you're doomed.

Think again. It's not going to be likely that u can initiate any change in culture in the workplace if no1's going to listen to you. In order to get ppl to listen to you, you gotta build rapport, get to know them, speak their lingo, know their background, become more of their friend, less of a boss. You got to have that public relation skill. That... subject you had in medical sch called... what's that again? PPD. ah yes. personal and professional development. you need to strategize. to find a perfect plan / solution to get things going and fulfill ur job requirement WITH the help of ur staff. You cant make them resent or dislike you or u're in for trouble.

take this scenario (from one of my lecturers):

A Medical officer calls up an ambulance driver to help him send an urgent medical sample to a very far place in the middle of the night. the fella refuses, saying he's Tired. the frustrated MO tells him off, and gets another ambulance driver to do it. he signs off a letter transferring the 1st ambulance driver out the next day. if u think problem's solved and that fella deserved it, you're wrong. 2 days later, the fella comes back with a letter from the ministry of health Instructing you to take him back in. He wins. hands down. apparently he's got huge cables in political parties.

there are a few ways we can look at this situation. Irresponsible ambulance driver who got off the hook with the MO as victim.

or if the MO had good PR with the ambulance driver, the fella wouldn't have obliged to do the MO a 'favour' to work and drive long distances in the middle of the night even if he really was tired.

thus the importance of establishing good relationship with your colleagues or staff in your workplace. no 1 can work alone. as a student we can still survive studying and managing things on our own without much contact with the outside world other than our circle of friends, but things differ a LOT in the working world.

i was initially disgruntled about having to wait and stone for hours when joining fieldwork attaching to the District Health Office fellas, but once i got into the fieldwork, fogging and all, i realised that hey, even though they work at their own time (never missing a tea break haha), they work efficiently. they get their job done well. bcz they're experienced and they Are passionate about their job. the old fellas who have bn 20 years on the job LOVe their job. they enjoy what they're doing. and they dont need a strict boss to get them to perform their job to their best.

Thank you for the fogging experience and everything!

Don't Miss This

now when was the last time i joined in to cheer for my friends in a College Idol-ish kind of competition?

Um... err.. never...?

I hav2 totally come back to Hukm this friday!!!

It's ESZ Night featuring the grand finalists of the Talentime.

Awesome poster by Kevin

Darn i must come back! Don't wana miss a great show!

Hole in the ground.

community health survey started in sabak bernam today. amidst the beautiful paddy fields that stretched from end to end and nvrending-ness, were village folks that lived a simple semi urban to rural life.

in one of the houses my group surveyed, there was a lady with 9 children. left by her husband (for another wife) and surviving on a meager RM500 a month from gov social service.

RM500 divided by 10 ppl = RM50

divide that by 30 days in a month.

that leaves every individual in that household with less than RM2 a DAY to survive on.

:S

when we asked about her diet, we found out her family only eats chicken / fish ONCE a MONTH.

fruits and vegetables: also ONCE a MONTH if they have extra money.

*dumbfounded*

i look into my own lifestyle and find that i have taken everything in my life for granted.

the way i manage my finances and the ppl who love me.

Transitioning

how good are you in dealing with transitions?

transition here refers to any situation whr u're out of ur comfort zone / am in a new place / far from ur very close friends for a period of time for say, more than 2 weeks.

some face transitions with excitement, zeal, enthusiasm.

some fall into a temporary state of depression / emo-ness before picking themselves up on their feet once again and looking forward to potential opportunities.

as u journey towards the new unfamiliar setting, the adrenaline builds up and u feel urself pulsating, heart beating hard and fast.

the series of events that follow now depend on how well u can identify with the place / people. how much you were made to feel at home / how occupied you are / how exhilarating the events in that new place are.

if u're undergoing a transition, all the best! :) i am too. just a v small one lol. its day 1 in tanjung karang, my public health posting. a pretty far from urban area 1.5 hours from cheras. i miss the hospital and the house mates chatter and the cicak screaming / cicak acting ppl already. haha. bt am looking fwd to a taste of public health and the awesomely cheap seafood ard here as well.

we're going to satay hut tonight! now that must ring a really loud bell in some of you. :P

Not Your Average Superhero

You've come across articles of Everyday Superheroes in the Reader's Digest:

- not so ordinary ppl who have saved a person's life, ppl who devoted themselves to the community serving others, ppl who touched lives in one way or another. the community is blessed with more warmth and care with these ppl.

i found superheroes in the heart of somewhr in btwn Cheras and Kajang today. at a shelter home for pregnant teenagers.

ever wondered how it's like to make a mistake as a teenager, something irreversible and comes with societal taunt and emotional trauma. to suddenly one day realize your urine pregnancy test tested positive. u're 15 years old, madly in love with raging hormones, i blame the current societal scene for the lack of exposure of teens to contraception. ur world feels like its being torn apart. u feel lost, u don't know what to do, you're paralyzed with fear.

http://search.independent.co.uk/topic/teenage-pregnancy

or u feel that no one understands you, your family neglects you, you decide to run away from home with your boyfriend. 1 week later, u find out it is the biggest mistake of ur life when you were forced into prostitution with no means of escape. ur body, mind and soul is tormented by the sexual abuse u're made to live through every single day. when you tried to protect urself, u were beaten and tortured. u can only cry urself to sleep each day as a means to comfort and express urself.

u were just, a teenager, who made that mistake bcz at that moment, adrenaline and sex hormones overpowered your capacity for rational judgement.

now how would you survive that ordeal?

someway, somehow, these teens have to move on in life, pick themselves up, put the past behind them and have a future plan for themselves. bcz their life doesnt end thr. there's still at least 75% more of life to go.

if u're lucky, u have a shelter home whr you receive protection and rehabilitation. you have a support group consisting of other teens like you who understand what you're going thru. you have a family that supports you, counselors to give u advice, ppl to guide u in picking up the pieces of ur life and start anew.

but even with that so called 'luck', it takes great courage to forget the past and move on. esp if you were betrayed and forced into prostitution. will you be able to start trusting ppl again? you are fragile. another storm can easily shake you and tear your foundation apart.

we have not even considered those teens who did not step forward to seek support. they went thru the whole ordeal alone. probably surrounded by darkness and a sense of hopelessness.

i herald these teens as superheroes for being able to brush away the dirt, stand up strong and say, I can do this, because life goes on. and these teens are the ones who propagate the message of hope to the rest of teens like them.

what the society needs to do, is to stop the stigmatization, discrimination, embrace these teens with open arms and tell them its alright we know you made a mistake and give them the emotional support they need. what ppl are doing to shun pregnant teens is doing absolutely Nothing to help the situation. i respect religious and cultural point of views (i am in no way promoting teen pregnancy) but hey we need to solve the problem that's in front of us now: pregnant teens exist in the country and we need to help them.

focus efforts on rehabilitation and protection.

if u want to reduce teen pregnancy, 1. promote abstinence. 2. increase education on contraceptive methods.

our country actively does no. 1.

No. 2 is swept under the carpet bcz ppl are afraid that it will promote sexual intercourse.

but sexual intercourse is happening among teens bcz raging hormones are beyond the control of the government or society for that matter.

start spreading the word on contraception!

http://www.healthofchildren.com/C/Contraception.html

heck i had no idea morning pills are safe for consumption until i entered medical sch. i used to think it was toxic or sth. (yes i was a pretty blur case but i'm sure i'm not the only one.) everyone laughs when u hold up a condom but there is a dying need to educate ppl on putting them on the correct way.

if we want to create a change in society, we need to change our mindsets 1st. then only start claiming that we want to sincerely help these teenagers.

Life isnt easy as a teen. we all know.

When to Hit the Panic Button

i always admire ppl who handle stress reli well.

those ppl who when challenges come, they think of a solution on the spot, have plan A, B and C, and they just carry it out and sit back and wait to see what happens. The outcome, whether good or bad, they seize it as an opportunity, think of another solution, and have more Plan As, Bs and Cs.

and in that process, no worries, no getting agitated, no binging lol, maybe just bouts of adrenaline rushes that comes but goes.

heck i wish i were like that!

but i guess thru time, my stress-in-crisis level has declined from the 1st time i set foot in university while i take up some responsibilities here and there, was forced into stressful situations and learned to handle them. i used to be reli uptight about punctuality, meeting deadlines, ppl being responsible, but no thankfully i'm not such a perfectionist for details. i get reli stressed up when things dont work out the way i expect them to.

but i learnt that nobody's perfect, anything that possibly can happen can happen, sometimes things u thought impossible can also happen, and i myself aint perfect. so sometimes ppl also have to put up with my imperfections.

so i need to give leeway for mistakes, expect ppl not to be punctual for the time set but still on time for the real time lol, set very early deadlines for ppl to not meet that deadline but still adhere to the real deadline, and allow the possibles to surprise me and challenge my ability to think fast and act quickly.

i still get reli stressed and panic in as-defined-by-me-crisis situations.

but i thank God for ppl i work with who are not like me haha. i learn from them to remain calm, take things easy and hope for the best. save the panicking for when things REAlly dont work out and there are no possible Plan As, Bs, Cs. :P

well thr isnt anything impossible with prayer. God I want to not panic. :P

on a 2nd thought, does panic bring u away from danger? is there a mild sort of panic thats enough to scare u to do sth but u stil maintain enough calmness to think properly and execute. is that considered panic? Maybe its called Super Acute Panic. or Subclinical acute Panic. ok i need to stop ranting.

Volcano pls don't erupt anymore. i wana go to Bali.