The Art of Dylan

You,

You, are not;

You … are not your career.

Dear Nurse,

You are not an angel. You are not superhuman. You are not an evangelist.

You are human. You have creative outlets. You have a personality. You have your place in your friendships and family space. You have many passions and desires.

You my dear, your worth is not your healthcare career. Your personality is not your career.

You may possess qualities as a human that make you a great nurse, but there are other nurses with opposite qualities that make them a great nurse too. You are good at what you do. You can love the unlovable and also enjoy being extremely educated in science and technology.

I think loving the unlovable is more of a shared human quality we all possess. Nurses, we just tap into it. I think the desire to learn and grow is in all of us. Nurses just tap into the scientific approach of things.

You may be a Hospice Nurse. But this is not who you are.

You may be an OR Nurse. But this is not who you are.

You may be a Home Health Nurse, an ER Nurse, a Med Surg Nurse, a Tele Nurse, a Research Nurse, an Educator, a Manager, a Flight for Life Nurse, an IV Infusion Nurse; but that is NOT WHO YOU ARE.

The qualities that you posses that help you fall into your specialty, and your outlets outside of Nursing: That is who you are.

It is because you are completely and utterly, perfectly and imperfectly, human that makes you a good nurse. But what makes you human? That is what should matter when defining yourself. You are not your career. You are your own human. As a human being, who are you (without nursing)?