At my doctor’s office there's this one particular nurse who's responsible for taking people's blood. She works in a tiny lab in the back of the office that has a white divider, some cabinets and is completely windowless. All in all, the space feels quite cold.
When you walk in, she greets you and asks that you sit down in the chair that faces the cabinets with the divider right beside you. Really, it's a pretty half-hearted welcome, because she's not overly friendly or talkative. In fact, she doesn't seem to like to talk at all.
Then she gets to work. She leans in to you and tightly squeezes a rubber tubing around your arm. Her gloved hand taps for a vein and you know there's going to be a stick in that oh-so-tender part of your arm. And if you're like me, you begin to feel a little queazy, a little light-headed, a little faint.
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(Okay, I've been known to completely black out.)
Personally, I’ve always liked to chat with someone when I'm getting my blood drawn. It helps distract me. Some small talk about the weather, work, what you're doing this weekend would help calm my nerves, but of course she doesn't want to talk.
However, in this particular office, in the back in this little lab, it hasn't been so bad. I’ve been able to get through most of my appointments without needing to lie down afterwards with an orange juice in hand because, even though this nurse isn't full of personality, she has personalized her lab.
She’s bathed her divider and cabinets with a collage of images representing everything that's dear to her, and it's fascinating to see.
Added over time, these images -- taped to the cabinets and pinned to the divider -- show off her children, pets, family members, favorite celebrities, places, monuments, animals, etc.
One look at this board and you know in an instant that she's a Pinner.
And because her walls tell a story, a tale about her life's loves and passions, you don’t think about the needle going in your arm. Or the blood being drawn out of your body into several vials, slowly, one ... at ... a ... time...
You’re too busy. You're too distracted. You're reading a story about her life, in images, and it's intriguing.
I mean . . . Who doesn't love a good life story? Especially one about a person who's literally extracting life out of you ;-)
Life is made more interesting by stories, and that's why Pinterest is so clever. They've devised a way for us to easily publish our own photographic autobiographies so others can take a look at us and learn who we are on the inside and out.
But, then again, who's to say an old fashioned collage isn't equally appealing ;-)
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