I actually listened to NPR on my way to meet my preceptor, not the whole time, but a good bit of it since I am rarely in my car anymore and rarely listen to the radio when my kids are around. A great book was being discussed entitled ‘Letting go with love and confidence.’ It was about raising good kids. I learned so much in that half hour that it astounded me. However, I did not agree with everything said, I did realize that so much in life and learning is not about the grade, but about the effort. If we consistently put in effort, we will consistently get good results. Maybe not perfect results, but at the end of the day, no one is perfect, but you won’t be anywhere near your goal if you don’t try. Could this be true with my own schooling and midwifery pursuit? Also, the authors discussed disciplining children, which almost every parent struggles with, as being a teaching tool and not a form of punishment. Although I don’t usually punish my kids, it does sometimes happen and I don’t like it. So, it was great to be reminded of how we should go about teaching them when needed—What a great message to hear this morning!
This semester I am taking the online course ‘Marriage and Family’. We have to post on the virtual discussion board often and my last post was about androgyny. Well, I do believe our society at large is becoming more tolerant of ‘middle-of-the-road type sexes’ but we are still bound by our inherent biology as to what emotions and characteristics we can express—similar to genetics. We are only going to express the gene if we have the chromosome, right? Well, I try hard to assimilate my knowledge into each and every post. I don’t like to read ‘yes I agree with your post’ or ‘very nice job’ or whatever. That is a waste of my time. So, if I expect others to put some thought into it, I do the same, plus, I consider this whole going through the motions a big ol’ fat waste of time if I don’t slowly put the pieces of my midwifery career together into something resembling a viable practice, because in the end that is the goal, right? So, after referring to research conducted in regards to the ‘tend and befriend’ theory that occurs when women are in stressful situations, tonight I got one of the sweetest compliments from a fellow student. She wrote:
“It’s so refreshing to hear how you understand these issues in the context of your work as a midwife. I appreciated your Penny Simkin’s thought. I think this is a fine opportunity for our classmates to get a sense of how a midwife may view the world with a slightly different lens. I hope others can appreciate your wisdom as much as I do.”
Let’s review this simple, yet profound post. While yes, she didn’t give a whole lot of input and it is *cringe* a waste of time for others to read, but oh Mylanta! What a sweet compliment! I am over the moon contented with myself right now. I had to marinate in the awesomeness of that note for a few minutes before humbling myself and denouncing that I am NOT a midwife yet just because I posted something which built on my past experience and education. But, yes, I am heading in the right direction and I couldn’t be happier about that! Now, as long as my lens don’t get covered in $hit, everything will be just fine.
My Journey as a Licensed Midwife in Louisiana 