Welcome to the last week of November….! After a really good feedback meeting last week, I was all prepared to follow on with our discussion on Membership, summarising and developing a plan to which we could all connect, however my week ended up taking a different path. Without boring you with too many details, I recently had an MRI and after a call from my specialist, ended up needing to visit the day surgery at St John of God last Friday.
Now I know this would be a walk in the park for most, however for me, never having been inside a hospital (other than when Josh and Ben were born) and never having had a general anaesthetic, I found myself rather apprehensive as to what lay before me. I managed my predicament by not wanting to know anything about what was going to happen and anyone who tried to walk me through it was met with my blank gaze – I couldn’t process what they were telling me and was caught up in the story (of dread) I managed to construct for myself. Let me tell you, had they not taken payment in advance and Sue had not dropped directly to the reception area, I don’t think I would have found myself in the bed being prepped for surgery! Didn’t know I was capable of experiencing such anxiety, and when the bloke came over with the oxygen mask pressed it to my face and told me to relax…..
Thankfully I didn’t end there. In fact that was the last I remember until I woke up in another area 2½ hours later with a sense of euphoria I hadn’t experienced for some time. Somehow I bucked the odds and survived my relatively minor surgery…?!? Of course surgery of any kind is not something to make light of and we must count our blessings for the expertise and access to that expertise we all have. I am however, led to ponder how in the face of evidence, logic and reason, it is still possible to feel such reticence and apprehension.
Hard to overlook the fact that it must have something to do with the unknown – but how can anything be unknown the Google Age?? That’s the trick really, the unknown is different for each of us and what may present a road block or debilitating anxiety for one, is of little concern to another. So it is the translation process inevitably that needs to be different – and not always following a discernible logic.
This leads me to conclude that it is not one tool but many tools we each need in addressing and coming through the unknown, empathy, knowledge, experience, feedback, resilience, intent, the list goes on. There is always a path to the other side we just need to find our way.
Can’t help but think how the same applies to our approach to membership….
Yours in Rotary Service,
Stephen
President 2020-21
