The decision to thrive...
A friend recently asked me to write them an email to explain how I came to my recent decision to move to Egypt for some time. This same friend remembered me telling her in 2004 what I was planning and the second I told her I was going, she repeated my plan back to me. So you are going to go set up a clinic there, do integrative medicine, work on your Arabic, and study Egyptian herbs, she said. Yes, indeed, that is exactly what I am going to do. I was dumbfounded, but then realized that it all made absolute sense. Of course, that was how I made the decision, by realizing that my life plan had never changed only taken side paths, tributaries on a route well known.
It was August 28, 2011. Hurricane Irene was set to hit New York City, where I have been living for the last four years (give or take, but that's another story). I have always been into disaster management, how would we survive if challenged to do so, on an island, off an island, far, far away from home. I stocked up on supplies, water, food, batteries. I sandbagged the lower level of my house, invited a few friends over who did not want to be alone, and we hunkered down, waiting for the storm that it turns out wouldn't hit.
I agreed with my now close friend, and upstairs neighbor, that at some point during the evening we would spend some time writing. I knew I needed change in my life and wasn't sure what shape that would take. With my roommate dj'ing, two friends asleep on the couches in the room, he and I began writing at about 5am. The wind was howling outside, it was raining, but we were still waiting for the storm to actually hit. Cable and internet had gone out at 11pm due to a tree down in our backyard, a fact we wouldn't know until the sun came up. I pulled out the notebook that I bought for this very purpose and began writing.
What I wrote it turns out, was my life plan. What I wanted to do, what I wanted it to look like. It was in fact the same plan I had written in 1998 before I started acupuncture school and again in 2004 after graduating with a license looking for something more. It was the same plan. I had since made steps in its direction. After writing the plan in 1998, I embarked on acupuncture school and got my license to practice Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 2004, I began the process of creating my non-profit, Integrative Clinics International, with the goal of providing integrative sustainable medical care to under served communities worldwide. By 2011, I had left a successful acupuncture practice for a policy degree (making a longer story a bit shorter), and worked for four years as a program manager in the health field, adding more skills to the deck. With the Egyptian revolution beginning on January 25th, my focus returned to my passions, my skills, my goals and my vision.
Back to Irene. As I sat there writing, I realized that this was the time. I immediately wrote the mission statement that I had been putting off for years. In about three minutes I wrote:
"I want to live life big, with meaning, purpose and love. I want partnership and I want to live my vision. My vision creates a truly healthy world where social justice becomes an inherent part of maintaining health."
And that was it. At that point, it was just about next steps. I needed to quit my job, sublet my place, renew my acupuncture license which had become dormant during my policy career. I would move to Egypt, set up an integrative clinic there to provide what so many people need, healthcare that is sustainable and practiced with a sense of social justice, anyone who needs it can get it regardless of their ability to pay for it. I would work to revise my Master's thesis regarding acupuncture coverage and access to care to provide the U.S. with the information it may need to help find its path to provide this medical resource to so many who could benefit from it, but who cannot afford it due to a messed up healthcare system which only provides healthcare to those who can afford it. If or when I return, that will be a part of my work here, the reason I left private practice to begin with.
I wrote a to-do list on the spot and after a week of letting it set in, I gave notice to my work and set the plan in motion. I will leave New York in one week. I will go to Egypt for about six months and see what is possible and then assess my next steps. At the moment, I feel blessed that this was a choice I was able to make, had the resources to implement, and the will to follow. This is the reason for the resurrection of this blog. And this is the reason, I will continue to document my process here. If I am finding my way back to my dreams, I figure there are others out there that want and can do the same.
By the way, Irene never hit New York City. I know others were incredibly harmed by her presence. For me, I describe her as a stern grandmother, she came through blowing her winds of change, stern in force, but not brutal in pressure. With love she left us to do what we would with the lessons we learned and the wisdom she imparted. Be prepared, even if I do not come with the force you expected, because I still came and in the end, was felt.
posted by Mayssa @ 10:30 PM
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