Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Jai.
Hi Jerwanda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstory.
And I knew all too well the lesson of sacrificing my needs out of responsibility or guilt. I didn’t want to fall back into the trap of believing that tough circumstances were signs of my worthlessness. But yet, I still wasn’t sure what to do. How could I use my education and degrees and have a fulfilling career that lit me up each day? I prayed some more.
That’s when I thought of starting an after-hours urgent and primary care clinic. Being in the medical field, I understood the need for such a practice and had the experience and desire to make it a reality. So many people I encountered daily didn’t have the means or insurance to seek medical care. I could create a place that was both affordable and accessible for this underserved population. It wouldn’t be easy, but I could work this business and my job until it got going.
I was suddenly filled with a newfound passion. My entire life had led me right here so that I could be there for others in this innovative way. This endeavor would take a lot of re-balancing to make it a reality, but I was determined. I found a mentor who gave me guidance and support. I had a business degree, but this would be a practical exercise, not just the theories and ideas I was used to.
Just as I was getting underway and in the early stages of building my business, my mentor passed away suddenly. This loss threw me. I moved from feeling healthy and motivated into a place of doubt that was difficult to shake. Some of me thought I was attempting something that was too big to do alone. And I thought about giving up.
But then I thought some more and realized that my mentor would never give me that advice. He would tell me that I could do it, that he was giving voice to things I already knew inside. So with that, I brushed aside my feelings of fear, and I moved forward. When I finally opened my doors, he may not have been there in body but in spirit and heart.
From then on, I knew I could handle any obstacle. Some setbacks arose around the opening date, but I pushed through and found the answers. When a new challenge surfaces, like trying to get the word out to new clients or deciding how best to market the services, I don’t hesitate. I keep moving forward, looking for solutions, researching, and seeking guidance. I may not be perfect, and I don’t have all the answers to building a business, but I do know how to persevere through adversity. My life has given me the tools I need to succeed because I know how to change course. I know how to adapt and find new paths when the old ones are worn. I know how to move forward, even when the world is against me.
When I struggle with something new, I try not to let it derail me from my journey. I take a step back and look for a positive impact. After you move through enough obstacles in your life, you learn to look at these setbacks differently. Even though it might seem like it sometimes, the world is not out to get us. I always felt like I was cursed; the world was set on forcing me to fail. And instead of moving through my struggles confidently, I let myself feel like a victim. I didn’t deserve anything good. But that’s not true. When I felt like a victim, I became it. I attracted situations in my life where I got to play that role. And I was comfortable with it.
The reason for attracting those victim relationships was not because I deserved them. It was so that I could learn that I earned more. And until I realized that lesson, I was destined to repeat it. But I am not on my path. I am who I am today because of what I overcame along the way, but I am not on the path itself.
I like to think about my life’s journey as a work of art. If it were easy to make a beautiful painting, we wouldn’t look in awe and amazement at paintings by great artists. A painting that is easy to create wouldn’t enthrall the viewer. It would look like the doodles someone might sketch as they sat through a tedious chemistry class. But a work of art has a history. Lots of thought and care go into a detailed painting. Sometimes the perspective or color doesn’t work, and the artist has to step back and try again until the figures merge into the perfect scene. That might happen on the first go, but more often than not, it would take hours of diligence and hard work to come up with a finished piece that is the true vision. That’s what our life’s journey is like and why the path we take or the length of time spent journeying is unimportant. The most important thing is what we create in the end and if we create that sense of awe in another person when all is through.
No one says in a eulogy, “I loved that she took such an efficient path in life. What a great person.” But they will say something like, “Her life was hard. I don’t know how she did it, but her strength inspired me.” That’s the difference between purpose and path. The path will be forgotten, but the purpose will live on in the hearts of everyone it touches. We live our purpose when we move through the struggles – no matter what – when the goal seems impossible, and somehow we keep plodding along.
It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My life has been playing out this way since high school. My dad was winding on his circuitous path when he struck a bridge. We were all in the car with him and absorbed the crash’s impact. I was hospitalized for several months as I recovered, missing the final months of my senior year. My brother nearly lost his arm due to his injuries, and I naturally came to his aid as best as possible, even while dealing with my injuries. The healing process was long and slow; we all dealt with it differently. I remember having to miss my senior prom seemed like a new, cruel joke. It had been a bright spot and a source of excitement all year, and losing it seemed like a punishment for something I didn’t even cause. Missing a dance doesn’t sound like such a big deal. Lots of people lose their prom, but the action represents what would become a troubling habit of forgetting myself because of others’ reactions and mistakes. All these complications that were out of my control dictated what I could and couldn’t do. Missing that dance seemed like an acceptance of something I wouldn’t shake for years. For whatever reason, I was learning that I deserved to suffer for things out of my control. It was okay to disregard my wants and desires. That habit of ignoring myself is the root of why my path became so winding in the first place. However, it’s a significant contributor to my passion for nursing.
I was always helping others. I loved working with the elderly at my church and caring for my grandparents. Whenever anyone needed a helping hand, I’d be the first to volunteer. Nothing was more significant than witnessing the appreciation in a person’s eyes when a kind word or action reached them in a time of distress. I knew this gift of compassion was my purpose. I knew I needed to become a nurse.
But though I knew this was my destination, the path could have been more straightforward. My dad’s car accident shook my family. Though it planted the seed of nursing within me, it did nothing to help me move toward that seed. I couldn’t focus on studying after the experience. Instead, I was filled with frenetic energy. My concentration was scattered. I wanted to help others, but my energy was spraying out of me in a million different directions. Instead of walking straight toward my goal, I turned left.
Soon after college, I met the man who would become my husband. This was no fairy tale romance. He broke me down steadily and consistently with his words until I no longer believed in myself. Already tending to put others first, I put a person first that treated me like garbage. In terms of my career, I had made it into the medical field, but I wasn’t a nurse. The desire to help others was still deep inside me, but the verbal abuse I bore from my husband took its toll. He made me feel as if I was worthless. I couldn’t rustle up the motivation to better myself, surrounded by this negative energy.
His harsh and demeaning words left me feeling on edge. Because this person, who was supposed to love me, said such hurtful things to me and seemed to be returning to the promise he made to me, I could no longer trust men. I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. A compliment or a kind word would inevitably still be followed by betrayal. That’s just what I had become accustomed to. I wasn’t the sort of person who deserved honesty or kindness, or love.
Despite the darkness of my marriage, I never stopped praying to God for guidance. God was the only one who knew my pain because, in my life, I presented a strong face. I didn’t let anyone in to see what was eating away at me on the inside. I felt my situation was unchangeable or couldn’t see the way out. So I did the only thing I knew to do and prayed. I felt like I was drowning. My life was just an endless series of verbal attacks and successive fear. I couldn’t even imagine it being any different than that.
The answer came like a light bulb in a dark room. A voice in my head said, “What are you doing?” At that moment, I knew I was being called to stand up. I couldn’t let him destroy me. It was like I suddenly remembered that everything negative he said to me wasn’t right. With that realization, I finally dared to tell him I was leaving.
As I was going through the divorce process, a tornado tore through my neighborhood. At the time, I was home with my two children and my niece. The house was uprooted around us before I could even process what was happening. The detritus swirled and then dropped out of the sky on top of us. We all survived, but the impact caused me to lose memory for some time. This medical setback did nothing to improve my journey and made it more challenging to pick up the pieces as my marriage ended. My memory may have been compromised, but the muscle memory of feeling “less than” and “not good enough” still lived inside me. At times, I even wondered if I deserved the wrath of that tornado. Maybe the world was trying to tell me something.
As I waited for the divorce to become official, I stayed with my sister and slowly devised a new plan for my life. Now that this painful and energy-consuming marriage was over, I could finally focus on my career again. I worked for a while as a Surgery Technologist, and though I enjoyed working in the OR in this capacity, I wanted something more interactive with patients.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At Divine Medical Healthcare Services, we are focused on providing comprehensive health and wellness services. Our services cover all your essential healthcare needs to align with our mission. We use a membership model with insurance acceptance at Divine Medical Healthcare Services. We used the primary care membership model because it returns healthcare to the heart of medicine. Direct primary care allows the team to take the time to talk through your concerns during each appointment in a calm, stress-free environment. Building a relationship with patients while providing exemplary care is the foundation of Divine Medical Healthcare Services.
Our services include:
- Botox Services
- Dermal fillers Services
- Weight Loss
- DOT Exams
- Hyaluron pen injection Services
- Lipo Cavitation & Laser Lipo, Radio Frequency of Skin and Facial Tightening, Woodsculpt Therapy Maderoterapia, Vibration Therapy, Butt Lift Therapy, and Phototherapy.
All are professionally done using the latest in Medical Healthcare equipment and products.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My support includes my family, friends, colleagues, and my inner self through motivation and determination.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.divinemedhealthcare.com/
- Other: https://lift.bio/drjai https://linktr.ee/drjai https://direct.me/drjaijai
