Why did you decide to do...?

Why do I want to do nursing? I chose to do nursing because I love people and helping care for them. After I graduated high school I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. So I traveled down to South Africa and volunteered at an orphanage for six months where I cared for and loved on 60 babies. Many of them were sick with various illnesses periodically or had ongoing illness secondary to being HIV+. I loved the time I spent there and the work I was doing. I was 19 and this whole experience rocked my world. I’d thought about doing nursing, but it was through my time in Africa that was a big deciding factor. I have hopes of returning to Africa when I am an RN, either short term or long term to help at clinics, disaster relief, and more. I also would like to work in a hosp or clinic here in the States, maybe with Psych patients as I have a special place in my heart for the mentally ill population. Only God knows what life holds down the road in life.

I also chose nursing because it is a profession that is really useful in many areas of life and it is versatile. I’d like to marry and have a family someday and knew I wanted a profession that is flexible. I can use my skills with my own children (someday) and work in numerous settings (clinic, hospital, home care, rehab, etc). It’s exciting to know there are so many areas I could potentially work in. In the future I’d like to consider pursuing a Masters degree to be a nurse midwife. I’m not in this for the money, but to be able to help people and to serve God through serving others and providing the best care possible!

I realize this is a profession that can be physically tiring and emotionally taxing, so it is important to maintain a balanced life. Even now I try to get good sleep, eat well, get out to run, etc. As a nurse I will face trauma, death, sorrow, pain. But there is also help, healing, and hope. I want to be there to offer hope to my patients and care for their whole person. I know I have a LOT to learn still, but I am on this journey and will continue to learn and develop who I am and how I can be an excellent nurse.


//This was written for a school assignment, but I enjoyed thinking about this and writing it down, so I would like to share it.

on the discipline of solitude. . .

Settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon Him in yourself. --Teresa of Avila



" Jesus calls us from loneliness to solitude. The fear of being left alone petrifies people. A new child in the neighborhood sobs to her mother, "No one ever plays with me." A college freshman yearns for his high school days when he was the center of attention: "Now, I'm a nobody." A business executive sits dejected in her office, powerful, yet alone. An old woman lies in a nursing home waiting to go "Home".

Our fear of being alone drives us to noise and crowds. We keep up a constant stream of words even if they are inane. We buy radios that strap to our wrists or fit over our ears so that, if no one else is around, at least we are not condemned to silence. T. S. Eliot analyzes our culture well when he writes, "Where shall the world be found, where will the word resound? Not here, there is not enough silence."

But loneliness or clatter are not our only alternatives. We can cultivate an inner solitude and silence that sets us free from loneliness and fear. Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.

Solitude is more a state of mind and heart than it is a place. "

--Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The path to spiritual growth.