My obstacle

So every two weeks, I observe physician-patient interactions at the walk-in renal clinic at Kings County Hospital. Most of the patients who come in are people with chronic kidney disease, sometimes diabetes, and often in need of dialysis. After they're done waiting they're usually pretty upset, and in a hurry to leave. Though occasionally, there are some really sweet patients who just want to feel better. Late in January, we had a patient with multiple myeloma with renal failure on top of it. He was here from Trinidad on vacation, visiting his sister and her family, felt sick and received his diagnosis. He knew he had only a handful of months left to live. Definitely one of the sweet ones. I don't really say much when I go to the hospital, but he noticed me standing there and said I looked like an important person, someone who matters. Stately was the word he used haha. He kept talking, and soon I got the impression that he was incredibly aware of his imminent death and wanted to say as much as he could while he still had the chance. As you've guessed, he gave me a life lesson or two. And I'm really glad he did - turns out, I needed to hear what he had to say, and it stuck with me since. He said, "Never let anyone get in the way of what you want. All types of people in all types of ways will get in between you and your goals, but no. You got to fight for what you want. You always got to fight."

And it's true. Different people and different things have been getting in my way, and I haven't been fighting. I've been letting them. I've been getting in my own way with my passiveness and complacence. I'm done with that. I owe myself more. It's fight time.