I find being flexible and adaptive could be very hard at times.   I am in a program at the JCC Manhattan called Adaptations which teaches members of the program many different social concepts.  I am finding I am not the only one in the program struggling with being flexible and adaptive with people I interact with such as my family, friends, and new people I meet.   Believe or not there are many other members of the program who are struggling with this social concept just like me.  Sometimes I find the members are struggling the same as me while other times I find there are members who are struggling worse than me.  There are a select few members I observe in the program who seem to not have much trouble being adaptive and flexible even though at times they will also have their struggles as well.  One of the members who I have become very good friends with happens to adapt with ease.  Even though there are some times when he is not, I think everybody at times can be that way too.  He also seems to be the most patient in Adaptations.  When I go to the different groups with him like Social Skills or even the Creative Alternatives of New York program, I watch how he operates.  He allows everybody else to speak first.  When he eventually speaks I wait until he finishes completing whatever he needs to say.  When we are in groups I find there are other members who tend to interrupt him trying to finish his statements he is trying to make.  I don’t say anything.  I know whoever is leading the groups for that day will tell the other members to let him speak also.   Anybody who is in a group whether formally or informally needs to realize everybody has to be listened to as well.

Patience is a virtue.  We need to be patient with ourselves and with other people.  Everybody is different and speaks at different paces even learns at different paces.  Not everyone is the same.  I know when I am working at my job doing my ultrasounds I have had about 4 students who I had to teach.  The school who sent me on externships wanted me to teach these 4 students.  Each of these students were at different periods of my life working at my job.  I am realizing they are all very different.  The first student I had was the smartest student I had by far with similar tenacity to me.  I knew it and I tried to work with her as much as I could.  Though she had trouble conversing and learning English.  English is the hardest language to learn.  I find if somebody is born in a English spoken family, they are already set for life.  People who are born in families who speak other languages in the world will have a harder time conversing with others since English is the main language of the world.  I think it is important for everybody to speak more than one language.   Anyway, I also have to remember I was once a student myself who would do whatever it took to succeed.  Just look at me now!  I know I still need to accomplish a couple of more things and I know I will since nothing will stop me.

I just need to be flexible and adaptive just like the program is called, “Adaptations.”  It is a unique name, but also a name which relates to what life is all about.  We all have to try and adapt to our surroundings.  I know I needed to adapt in the past and I need to continue to try to adapt even though at times in my life I just want things to be the same.   Unfortunately life is not the same.  We have to adapt to different changes in our lives everyday.  When I first was told my boss wanted to hire me I was in shock.  I could not believe somebody actually wanted to hire me.   I was hired to do a skilled job where I would be helping a doctor make diagnoses for heart and vascular conditions.  I knew I had to adapt to this big change in my life.  I realized though I went to school just to learn how to scan and be a contributing member of society.  Now I am a contributing member of society in the medical community.   People like George always told me when I was a student to think about others who want to succeed in the future.  Right now I see a lot of technologists in the field who are working and who will retire someday.   Once they retire, they need to know there will be somebody in the future who can do the same functions as them.   The realization is we all need to teach everybody.  We can not be afraid of teaching a student because the benefits outweigh the risks.  Besides a student should never forget who taught them.  For every great person, there is another great person inside of them.  Actually I have at least thousands of great people inside of me.  It took many people to help me get where I am at today.  I guess Adaptations was created in the first place to teach people with disabilities the social concepts they lack.  This program is making me realize more about what George told me about teaching students who want to join the Ultrasound community.  If a program to teach social concepts was never created, then the people who already know the social concepts would seem selfish about what they already know.  The same idea is genuine for the Ultrasound community and any other career or job.

In fact, I probably am a bit more adaptive then I thought I was even though I realize I have to be more adaptive in life.  I am always going to learn from my very patient and flexible friend who helps me out a lot.  I am glad I am in a program called Adaptations and I hope someday I can be a lot more adaptive then I am today.  I also hope other members who are struggling with being adaptive and flexible can do it as well.

posting again soon,

OUT, J