Breakfast
When you are in Navajo country, frybread is a part of life- loved for it's taste and cultural significance, but often guiltily consumed due to it's association with diabetes and obesity.
I was involved in a minor love affair with my own frybread sitting at the local diner for breakfast and enjoying my heavy dose of carbs for the week with a nice omelette while reading the news on my iPad.
Suddenly and quite directly I heard:
"Hi, Dr. Davis!"
Strangely it seemed as though it was coming from the seat across the table from me. I thought I was having a stroke. Actually, I was just so engrossed in my mail and the news that I hadn't noticed an elderly patient's daughter had walked up and taken the seat across from me in my booth.
"Mom's doing well but she's tired and I wanted to know what you thought about some new medicine she got after you took care of her in the hospital".
We chatted for awhile and we talked about their plans for the day and the weekend and how her mother was out for a trip on another part of the reservation.
And weirdly I wasn't bothered at all by this. I think if I were in New England it would have been easy to be irritated or put off by this. Here is somebody coming along, interrupting your breakfast, your peace, your quiet, your non-interactive anti-social iPad reading.
But when I sit and think how beautiful it is to be part of a community, where people feel comfortable enough to walk up and join you at your table, and care enough to tell you about their lives- to me that is pretty moving.
And if we're becoming so closed off from each other in other areas of the country that we are bothered by people wanting to just share with us, then we really need to look at whatever the bigger problem is.
Nothing makes you feel more like a Country Doctor then people coming up and interrupting your breakfast or your grocery shopping to let you know how they're doing.
I'm really quite blessed.
It All Comes Back To The Blog
"No matter what format we share our stories in, if we want the idea to spread, it all comes back to the blog."
A quick read and a great point at A Lesser Photographer.
There is so much exciting stuff happening in the creative space this weekend!
If you are interested in drilling back down to the heart of your photography, make sure you check out CJ's A Lesser Photographer - A Manifesto, which I consider to be required reading.
Knowing When To Take A Break!
Just had an exhausting 2 hour dream that I was managing a crashing meningitis patient in the ER. I think It’s very much time for me to get outside and make some photos this weekend!
Maps
HeartHandsEyes.com Explained
So now that we're here, what exactly is going to be going on at HeartHandsEyes.com? Why do I need this website instead of just posting my status on Facebook or Twitter or even Tumblr? Why do I think I even need to 'post' anything at all?
I have been blessed with a wonderful life. As some of you know my childhood was not the typical experience for a child growing up in the United States, and maybe one day I'll elaborate on that as it directly affects my worldview. But ever since I hit college life has given me so much and allowed me the opportunity to see and do more than I could ever have imagined.
Flash-forward to today. I am a physician practicing a specialty that I adore: full-scope Family Medicine with an emphasis on taking care of pregnant mothers and babies. I get to travel the world meeting fascinating people, and most of the time I get to help others when I am in those places. But this is how things are now. In the Spring of 2012 I realized I was very unhappy with the rushed pace of typical US medical practice, especially in New England. I was seeing as many patients as could be fit into my schedule and rushing through visits. I was (not) balancing far too many work and academic projects. My health was waning, my relationships were suffering, and I felt useless. It was a very strange place to be- practicing a profession that by its very nature helps people, but feeling that I was of no use to anyone, especially to myself.
So during a short trip to beautiful Asheville, North Carolina that Spring I stood back and assessed where I was and where I needed to be. The result is where I am today. I love medicine again, I am becoming spiritually focused, I already have been around the world once, and my mind, body, and spirit are becoming stronger. I am in the process of trying to lead a more remarkable and creative life- one that is of service to others, and one that is interesting and inspires me. It was a big mental leap to decide to do this, and it involved a lot of improbable logistics. If I had not made irregular leaps I wouldn't have been able to see the forest for those trees. And before I could move forward I needed to restructure, I needed to center, and I needed to rest. It took a lot of help from my adopted family, and there was saddness and loss along the way.
This website and the words and photos exist as a record of what we do and what can be done. Words and photography have been important to me during my entire life and have been the lens I've used to really access our world meaningfully. I hope that now they can be an effective medium to share with others.
To be more granular:
HeartHandsEyes.com exists to relay the stories of the people, places, and issues I encounter in my travels and in my work as a locum tenens, mission, and expedition physician, and as a photographer and writer.
We'll have discussions about making hard decisions, setting goals, physical and spiritual health, professional burnout, and the logistics involved in seeking out meaningful experience in our lives.
There are a lot of tools I've used to be able to pull everything off- hardware, software, books, gear, services, and techniques to be able to do the things I get to do. I think they're interesting and would like to share them. I'm a boy, and boys love gear.
And of course, there is the very real matter of finances to discuss.
I don't think I am so important that everybody should come and hear what I have to say. But I do think that our lives and our world is fascinating. I don't think anybody needs to become burned-out doing the thing they love- especially physicians and nurses. For now I just want share ideas and stories.
I think that will be interesting.
Aaron A. Davis, D.O.
Navajo Nation
Chinle, Arizona
Finally!
I am so happy to finally be able to launch this site. Many months ago I decided I was on the wrong path in my career. The medicine I was practicing was not the remarkable life I wanted to offer to myself or my patients.
Since that time I have refocused my life- my energy, my knowledge, and even my health- towards something that is of service both to myself and to others.
It took a lot of time and a lot of help from others to get here.
Welcome.
-Aaron