Tolerance does not mean tolerating intolerance. A couple of months down in my degree, a situation at my workplace provoked me to quit my job. Having worked at numerous places and undergone several situations, I have clearly understood the demarcation between authority and hypocrisy.
I have worked through rough toxic work situations a lot of times before. Just because an employee needs the money to put bread on his table, some employers take this situation for granted and harass employees with their immature behavior. I was in the same boat. Just because I needed the money, I let myself into a zone where I kept swallowing my pride and kept taking bullcrap from grown-up children but this time, something was different.
Instead of arguing and making things worse, I chose to walk away with my dignity and self-respect.
I understood that being constantly offended does not mean you're always right, it just means you're too narcissistic to tolerate the opinions of others. I ended up coming home determined that I will make a better future for myself.
I always knew my end goal is securing a job in the medical industry but that did never stop me from giving my heart and soul to every place I worked with. I learned a lot along the way from people and hopefully taught some people some good as well.
Just like constantly flowing water, humans need to keep evolving, always learning and growing as stagnant water turns smelly in no time. The problem arises when you stop the learning curve and start carrying around the perception of a perfect human being.
It was sad for me to walk away from the amazing coworkers I had worked with but personally, I have learned to take care of my own mental health, my own peace of mind and understood that nothing is worth disrupting it. I started to put my own self-respect and mental health above everything else and it actually feels amazing when you start saying no to things and situations that affect your peace of mind or your mental health.
That does not mean, I am the living example of a perfect human being either, I make mistakes, unintentionally probably hurt people too but I choose to reflect on my behavior and try to learn from them rather than pushing my toxic behavior onto others for them to choose to deal with it or not.
Everybody is fighting a battle in their personal lives so the least we can do for anyone else is just be kind.
Amidst all the chaos, my sister came bearing blessings for me. She told me that she will take care of my expenses and I should only focus to finish my degree and build my career. I was a bit hesitant to the idea of not working at all and being totally dependant on her but she made sure I felt comfortable. Like always, my family came to the rescue.
I was studying that morning when my phone rang. It was from my General Physician's clinic in Port Macquarie. They were calling me to let me know that I was eligible to get my Covid vaccine shot.
I wasn't given many details about which vaccine I will be given but they booked a time slot for the next day. My parents got a bit worried as there was a lot of fear among people about the side effects of the vaccine.
I ensured them that it will all be okay and the next day I drove up to Port Macquarie to get my jab. I drove straight back home it was about 2 and half hour journey. I was feeling okay but as I got home I started to feel a bit sluggish. I thought I was tired so I changed and got into my bed, I was feeling very nauseous and I ended up vomiting my guts out in the bathroom. I went back to bed and by midnight I had a fever and a sore body. I took some panadol and went to sleep.
The next morning I woke up with a very high fever and my joints and whole body were paining.
My housemate helped a lot. She cooked for me and made sure I had everything I needed.
For the next 3 or 4 days, I was down with a high fever, headaches, and body pains. It took me a whole week to recover from fever and body pains but I still had a persistent headache that wasn't going away even by Panadol. I am not allowed any other pain killer because of my kidney issue. I kept ignoring it thinking its just a side effect but one afternoon while I was studying my head started to hurt so bad, I laid down on the lounge trying to press my temples but the pain was too much to handle. My housemate came out to check on me and she found me laying down on the lounge hitting my head with my fists. She got concerned and started to give me a head massage.
Hours went by but my head wouldn't stop pounding. My blood pressure was dropping as well. My speech started to slur. We called the ambulance by that time one of my friends dropped in as well to check on me. By the time ambulance got home, my temperature started to rise. The paramedics came in they took my vitals, blood pressure was low. I had a bit of temperature as well and my head was still hurting. They put me on fluids on the way to the hospital.
As they got me in emergency care I was put in a room and my friend who was kind enough to come along with me in the ambulance waited with me for the doctor. After some time the doctor came over did an initial assessment and said it seems you were severely dehydrated and it caused a fever. I told him I had hydralite and I regularly drink water to keep hydrated. Then he went out and came back in with an ATAGI statement on the rare blood clot issues related to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
I was feeling a lot better by that time so I asked him if I can go home he said I can, He suggested that I should get the blood tests done to rule out the clotting issue. The next day I visited my GP and got my blood tests done as well, luckily everything came out to be normal. I did get better and got back to my studies and finding a part-time job as well.
At this time, vaccination seems to be the only hope to get out of the pandemic situation. Despite all the rumors around it, I would urge people, especially youth in Australia, India, and around the world to get vaccinated and raise awareness about it.
Comments