Finding Meaning In Your Nursing Career

We all seek meaning in various aspects of our lives, and when we work in nursing and healthcare, we often look for meaning and value in our lives as professional nurses. Finding that meaning can be central to our identity and relative happiness, both personally and professionally. In his beautiful book,Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity, author and poet David Whyte makes the following statement:At its simplest, good work is work that makes sense, and that grants sense and meaning to the one who is doing it and to those affected by it.Whyte ' s book is brimming with nuggets related to work and career; my personal copy is underlined, dog-eared, highlighted, and otherwise thumbed through with great interest, curiosity, and appreciation.Identity and NursingIf our identity as nurses is central to our personal identity, nursing takes on a meaning that can carry us through even the most difficult days, or leave us weeping in confusion and defeat. Our work as nurses can lead us to witness great suffering, moments of triumph against all odds, as well as a sense that life, illness, and health are sometimes gravely unfair.When a child suffers or dies despite our best efforts, we can falter in our steps and go so far as to question why God would allow such a horrendous thing to happen to one so innocent. On the other end of the life spectrum, watching a destitute, isolated, chronically ill elder struggle in the final throes of life can also underscore the rel...
Source: Digital Doorway - Category: Nursing Tags: career career development careers healthcare careers nurse nurse career nurse careers nurses nursing nursing careers Source Type: blogs