Mentorship - The First Week

            It’s only the second month of school, and I can already feel the pressure building on me. Junior year is the big one; the one where everything comes together, gets stapled, and sent off to the college of my choice. The past week of school has consisted of an unnecessary amount of work that I have deemed “pointless and monotonous”. School, after attending for 12 years, has lost its touch. There was a point where I really enjoyed learning the new and fascinating material, but I feel, especially this year, that I’m just taking the same classes I have been since freshman year. Thankfully, my mentorship arrived just in time to pique my curiosity and untie the mental restraints that school has forced on me this year.  

            Last week was my first week at Gainesville Surgery Center. The first day was spent getting acquainted with the staff (and with over 70 doctors available it will be quite a difficult task) and getting to know how the filing system works. On just my second day I was ushered into the OR and was able to witness, up close and personal, a foot surgery to remove bunions. This is what high school has been lacking. Sitting in a desk and learning about something is nowhere near in the same league as experiencing it; the sights, smells, sounds, and just the atmosphere. From school I have been mildly interested in medicine; mildly being slightly more than anything else. Now that I have been on the “frontlines” I have found myself excited about progressing into my future and have been doing the rare task of finding a path to get to where I want to be. I’m narrowing my career search and gaining valuable experience at the same time. All the frustrations that the school year has presented has been softened by my passion that I’ve found in my mentorship.

 

~Grey

Thoughts on Money

“We do not break the bad habit of debt through earning more money, but rather we break any habit by replacing it with a better one.” This quote is true all across the spectrum of money making. It’s hard to believe that a Pro football player who makes millions is a lot worse at handling money than someone who makes just above $50,000 a year. One of the hardest things to do in life is NOT doing what you want to, such as spend the paycheck as soon as you get it. Getting into the habit of spending is a difficult, but rewarding process.

           

Being a 17 year old student looking at colleges to attend in the next year or so, the thought of “how could I afford this” is constantly nagging at the back of my mind. With college costs, gas costs, and just the costs of living in general, I HAVE to be able to handle my money in a mature, efficient way. My goal in avoiding financial trouble is to try to avoid loans, relying on banks, and other means of obtaining unearned money to fund things that I have no business buying. As Dave Ramsey stated,” The average household credit card debt has increased approximately 167% in the past 17 years”. If at all possible, pay with cash so that you can be assured that you actually have the money. I like to go by the motto, “only swipe if you gotta’”. This helps a lot in decreasing overdrafts and outragous monthly bills.

In the field that I’m mentoring in (medicine-surgery), money is usually not a problem for the employees. While most doctors and nurses make a sizeable pay each year, what really helps them is their good spending and saving habits. Having to pay for the amount of school they undertook, and the responsibility of having to ace the classes all contributed to their good habits. I view myself as someone who is good with money, and I really do enjoy making it. As far as money being an influence in my career decision making, I would say that it has very little. While worn out, the old adage “money doesn’t buy happiness” has a level of truth when deciding what to do with your life. Whatever I end up doing, I will always value my happiness over my income.

~Grey

Mentorship And My Future

            As I head into my mentorship at Gainesville Surgery Center, there are a few goals that I have set for myself to get the most out of this experience. I want to obtain a deeper understanding of what goes on behind the scenes in a medical facility, grasp the concepts of different surgeries and medicines more thoroughly, and learn how to work efficiently in such an environment. My plan to achieve these goals is to go in each day with a curiosity for something new and ask lots of questions. As of right now I’m trying to find exactly what I want to do as a career, and this mentorship is a great way of discovering what I don’t want to do, but more importantly, open the doors to what I do want to do. This mentorship will do what a high school classroom can’t, which is let me actually experience rather than imagine. If I can achieve the above goals in the time that I’m at GSC, I think that I will be able to narrow down my career path a tremendous amount and free myself from the thought of “what if I never know what I want to do?” If I can do this, then the mentorship will have been very successful in my eyes, and have a big impact on my future.

 

  

My Mission Statement

I will work hard and passionately on achieving my personal goals, and helping others with theirs.

I will pursue a life that Christ would have me lead, and let Him shape my future.

I will treat others with the respect they deserve.

I will take the road less traveled.

Thoughts on the Lapdog Communication training

            Over the past week in HMP, we have been participating in personality exercises (what type of communicator we are) and learning how to talk to others. I’ve participated in these in the past, but the Directionality and Communication training we did at Lakewood, thanks to Lapdog, really helped me get to know myself, and others, better. Naturally, I’m a shy person. When I’m around people that I’m unfamiliar with I feel too awkward to say much, and I believe it was because I haven’t thought about how to REALLY talk to someone. Natural leaders can subconsciously take the information that Lapdog gave us and apply it in their everyday speech, which is why people are attracted towards them. This is a vital ability and one that Lapdog helped us hone.

            I feel that I’ve always been able to communicate with people well enough, whether they are considerate, systematic, spirited, or direct. I’m a considerate person myself, so my conversations with people come across as caring and interested. For the most part, I’d rather listen than talk. I try to be a leader more by example than talk. At school I’ve been able to be more patient around other spirited or considerate people, because Lapdog showed that these groups require patience, and when they receive it they are much happier.

            For me, my biggest fear in myself is failure. A lot of times I won’t do some sort of event because I’m afraid of the consequences of not being able to complete it. I like to be trusting in others, as sometimes I’m afraid that if they trust me I will let them down. A big personal project I’m working on is pushing myself to do things that risk success and failure. Speaking to people that I don’t know more often is a task of such magnitude, and one that is tough for me. I participated in Lapdog just in time to assist with the project, and they’ve helped me understand myself and others on a more personal level, and have allowed me to leave my comfort zone the past week or so.

            The Lapdog training itself was really fun for more reasons than just missing school. I was able to get to know some of the other people from different schools better, breaking down that invisible divide that’s been there in HMP for a couple of weeks. We also played some really fun, challenging games that I’ve never heard of before. Overall, the training wasn’t another personality seminar, but an engaging experience that I definitely benefited from.