The gift

We had an end of life simulation today... I was dreading it, simply because these labs tend to be a waste of time and I normally don't get much out of it. But at the end we had our debriefing and we were talking amongst the clinical group about end of life experiences. And then I started thinking.

We have such a privilege as nurses to be a part of the most difficult and joyful times of life. To be able to be there for a family when their baby is born, to make someone as comfortable as possible when they are in pain, to comfort the dying and the family. This is huge. I realized that with all this fighting and frustration and toil with school that I've gotten so bogged down in my frustration that I lost sight of the real thing. This is why I'm here. To give care to those in need, to make a difference for someone, to make dying easier. I'm here to celebrate the beauty of life and the human spirit. There is so much beauty surrounding us and we get so full of our shit that we forget about the bigger picture. I hope that I get to keep this feeling with me through the end of nursing school. And I'll probably fall off the band wagon a few more times, but the fact that I get to have this feeling (even if its fleeting) for just a moment is the biggest gift I know of. Life is precious, why not enjoy it when we can??