Learning to Empathize
September 22, 2008
For as long as I can remember, I've never been sick and I only occasionally went to the health center to skip classes.
But while trekking in the Nujiang Valley, I realized that I should not take my health for granted, and I was miserable. The street food and the high altitude (around 3500m) were too much for me, and my p-scale plummeted while my heart and brain screamed in pain. (Thankfully, I did not get them at the same time but one after another).
Despite my physical breakdown, I am very grateful for these difficulties (only in retrospect obviously :). I had a chance to truly emphasize with other members of our group who were having p-scale problems and had high altitude sickness.
Before I had to frequent bathrooms, I did not understand why low p-scale seemed so tired and snappy all the time. And before I went down with high altitude sickness, I was hiking at the front pushing the pace and slightly getting annoyed at the fact that we were moving so slow.
Fortunately, I'm back in good health now, and I also feel stronger in my ability to empathize.
Thanks to all for being so supportive when I was weak.
No comments:
Post a Comment