From KT- Oct. 9, 2017

Yo DaVitans !!

Greetings from Saudi Arabia!  I just got up from a 2 hour nap.  I had a terrible night of sleep last night, and after all the recent travel I was just crashing this afternoon, as we were doing an operating review.  I went back to the hotel, collapsed into bed for a nap (which is very rare for me), now I am about to head to dinner with the Minister of Health. Incredibly exciting, and the Minister is very intelligent and action-oriented.

Also exciting in the Kingdom (Saudi is a true Kingdom) is that they recently announced that women will be able to drive, which is a HUGE and wonderful change.  We were a tiny part of provoking this change as we have promoted women into many management spots, and we hired drivers to take them around to make that possible.

I hope you are each on the way towards living a healthier life!  We have 4 weeks together to build new habits, experience new approaches, to care for ourselves with the same intensity we bring to taking care of our patients.  If you review my log you will see:

1. I continue my normal routine of exercise every day, usually in the morning.  In fact I have been getting in a full hour each day on this trip, because with all the jet lag if I do not do more it is hard to keep going
2. I am having a hard time building the 2 minute Timeout muscle.  I think I will do better when I am back in the US in more of a normal routine, and I am in my own office and home for several days a week.  People look at me pretty funny when I start doing big stretches in the middle of a meeting or public place.
3. On Friday I was only with a couple people each day.   I think I was a pretty good human being all day, but I am trying to set a pretty high bar for the connectedness and gratitude scores.  I need to find out if those answers are yes/no or a number.

I also want to find out how many DaVita Village Citizens are in this year’s MTM so far.  With the new and more complicated regiment, it will be interesting to see the sign-ups.

Another highlight of my week is that I did a town hall in our Malaysia home office, with the 40 or so teammates there.  And today I got to visit one of our Saudi centers, and visit with the teammates and the patients.  Wonderful!

I wish each of you much happiness, and hope that you are savoring the adventure of life.  A man I have never heard of, Ralph Gardner, originated one of my other favorite quotes in the world “There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy. “   I try to remember to say this every day when I am stretching in my normal workout.

I am grateful. For my family, my health, my friends, my job.

All the best to you, Your Mayor, KT