"My husband is a plastic surgeon".
You know the scene. Wedding. Reunion. Seminars. You meet someone new. Genuine small talk. Standard questions; where are you from, what do you do for a living, oh you're married/have children, is your husband a doctor too? Up until that point, conversation is very polite and low-key.
Then comes all kind of comments, some positive, some funny, and some not very ...flattering, depending on your point of view.
Flashback: I remember one lecture in medical school, I honestly can't recall what the title was, but we were thought not to react or show our emotions when the patient reveals things that are unpleasant or shocking, because we do not want to discourage the patient from telling us the truth that might help in their treatment.
Back to the conversation with the new friend. "Well', I tell the new friend, "that's cosmetic surgery. My husband doesn't do any of that. His patients are mainly cancer patients, people who've had their limb or finger injured or cut off and patients who have burns".
Then comes that moment where you see a change in perspective, a change in paradigm, happening right before your eyes. "Oh I see". The new friend says, almost apologetically. "I didn't know that". Sometimes, they are genuinely disappointed because they were hoping for some discounted cosmetic surgery. Other times, the conversation heads into "what reconstructive surgeons actually do" and "what its like to be married to a surgeon". Definitely more interesting than "life as a lecturer" or "life as a non-plastic surgeon doctor".
I can hear readers thinking, what is the point of this status update again? Is it to tell everyone what my husband does for a living? Of course not. Now that I have your attention, the point I'm trying to make is this; it's all a matter of perception.
Perception is our viewpoint of the world, the map that we hold and believe to represent reality. Reality, on the other hand, is the actual world itself. (I think I first read about this in the book 'Seven habits'). I have come to know a lot of people have perceptions about what plastic surgery is, and I can't blame them. If I was not married to one, I wouldn't have a clue either. All I would know is what I had seen on tv, read in the papers, heard on the news etc.
You know the scene. Wedding. Reunion. Seminars. You meet someone new. Genuine small talk. Standard questions; where are you from, what do you do for a living, oh you're married/have children, is your husband a doctor too? Up until that point, conversation is very polite and low-key.
Then comes all kind of comments, some positive, some funny, and some not very ...flattering, depending on your point of view.
Flashback: I remember one lecture in medical school, I honestly can't recall what the title was, but we were thought not to react or show our emotions when the patient reveals things that are unpleasant or shocking, because we do not want to discourage the patient from telling us the truth that might help in their treatment.
Back to the conversation with the new friend. "Well', I tell the new friend, "that's cosmetic surgery. My husband doesn't do any of that. His patients are mainly cancer patients, people who've had their limb or finger injured or cut off and patients who have burns".
Then comes that moment where you see a change in perspective, a change in paradigm, happening right before your eyes. "Oh I see". The new friend says, almost apologetically. "I didn't know that". Sometimes, they are genuinely disappointed because they were hoping for some discounted cosmetic surgery. Other times, the conversation heads into "what reconstructive surgeons actually do" and "what its like to be married to a surgeon". Definitely more interesting than "life as a lecturer" or "life as a non-plastic surgeon doctor".
I can hear readers thinking, what is the point of this status update again? Is it to tell everyone what my husband does for a living? Of course not. Now that I have your attention, the point I'm trying to make is this; it's all a matter of perception.
Perception is our viewpoint of the world, the map that we hold and believe to represent reality. Reality, on the other hand, is the actual world itself. (I think I first read about this in the book 'Seven habits'). I have come to know a lot of people have perceptions about what plastic surgery is, and I can't blame them. If I was not married to one, I wouldn't have a clue either. All I would know is what I had seen on tv, read in the papers, heard on the news etc.
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