Want to give a Christmas gift or Hanukah gift that lasts a lifetime and costs you nothing? It’s possible.
Many people are being quite reflective this year given the global pandemic. One of my clients was considering quitting her job after a couple of months into the first lockdown. She realized she wasn’t happy in her role and thought she didn’t want this work to be her future. She’s just left it. A presenter on Loose Women (a rate, cheeky, lunch-time indulgence) announced this week she was leaving the show after 10 years. As much as she loved her job, she reflected during lockdown that she wanted to be more daring and braver with her one life. She wanted more fulfillment by helping others.
I’m inviting you into this reflective space. What do you want for your work? Your life? Yourself? Who do you want to be? Most people want to be generous, help others and leave some form of legacy. Blood donation while you’ re alive and organ donation when you die are great and easy ways of doing that.
Blood Donation UK
Yes, giving blood helps others, saves lives and is selfless. As the slogan says: it’s in you to give. Assuming you meet the criteria it’s easy to donate. The practitioners at the clinics are well versed in doing their job and especially helping 1st time donors. Blood donation centres have been open throughout the pandemic. Apparently, there’s been a 15% decrease in donations in the UK during coronavirus.
Why Give Blood?
• Nearly 400 new donors a day are needed to meet demand
• Around 135,000 new donors a year are needed to replace those who can no longer donate
• 40,000 more black donors are needed to meet growing demand for better-matched blood
I’ve been donating since 1989. When I worked at P&G there was a mobile blood donation clinic in our building that we were encouraged to visit. That was my first donation and I have been doing it since. I’ve donated in the 3 countries in which I’ve lived. I’m grateful to be healthy especially this year with all suffering and fear of illness around us.
I once received a thank you card from my Mum’s cousin, whom I didn’t know well at the time. She had had breast cancer a few times and therefore multiple blood transfusions. She wrote to thank me when she found out that I was a regular donor as someone that had potentially saved her life or saved other sufferers. That hit home for me.
Book yourself for an appointment at a NHS Blood Donation clinic near you through this link .
Organ Donation
Organ donation is a great gift when you die. The donation rules changed in England last month to be opt out. That means upon death, one’s organs will be donated (if they meet the criteria) unless you’ve opted out of the donation. It’s automatically assumed you’ll donate your organs.
Unfortunately, we were not able to donate my parent’s organs upon their deaths as they had died of cancer, so the organs weren’t usable. This why organ donation is so important, not all organs can be used as it depends on the cause of the death of the donor and their condition when alive.
Tell your family you are happy to have your organs donated as the medical staff will still ask your family members. There is no link for you to follow here as I’d like to you to stay in the programme and not opt out. If for religious or other reasons you need to it’s easy to find. If you live in another country that requires opting in to donate your organs, please do so.
It’s the time of year to think about gifts and the type of year to reflect on what matters. What gifts do you want to be known for and what would you do if you were more daring? My next blood donation is scheduled for January; I have expressed my wishes to have my organs donated.
Book a COMPLIMENTARY coaching session with me here for some guided reflective time – who do you want to be? What legacy do you want to leave? What work will fulfill you more?
