When I was a young child, perhaps no older than 4 years young, I remember a deep and pervasive connection with Nature and all living beings. I said to any adult who took the time to ask me what I wanted to do when I grew up: "I want to be a nurse like my Aunt Nan." Aunt Nancy was my father's sister, and my Godmother. I always felt a special bond with her, and she encouraged me always to pursue my dream of being a nurse. I started young and during my senior year in high school, I took a vocational course for a few credits. When I graduated, I had a Certificate of Nursing and worked as a C.N.A. at the same small facility in my hometown that I'd procured my first job as a dietary aide.
Basically, I've always been attracted to and working in the medical field, even as a volunteer Candy Striper in my early teenage years. I knew what my calling was from a very young age, and I pursued it into adulthood. When I finally graduated from nursing school, my son wrote to me: "Congratulations on graduating nursing school, even though you've been a nurse all your Life" I paraphrased what he really wrote, but that was the gist of it. What he wrote touched my heart, but when I really thought about it, he was right.
Being a nurse, and being connected to my patients and their needs during each of my shifts is so important to me. Developing compassion for each of my patients, and getting to know each one as a person individually has always been one of my priorities as a nurse. On the days when I have time to spend with each patient getting to know them as a person, I feel most like the nurse I dreamt of being as a young child.
I simply wanted to post about some of the reasons I'm in this profession, or how I came to be in this calling. When I was a child, I was an animal healer. I was connected to horses, cats, dogs, birds, snakes, Nature, turtles ... any living thing. It seemed I'd find injured animals (mostly birds), take them in until they were able to fly away on their own again, and nurse them back to health. (Well, mother permitting, that is!)
When I was pregnant with my first child (my son), I worked as a C.N.A. (again at the very facility that I began my initial career in the medical field in my hometown!) and Aunt Nancy happened to be my Charge Nurse on the night shift. It was the early 1980's, and 'managed care' (what we in the nursing profession dubbed 'mangled care') was becoming the norm in the health care field. Corporations were taking over healthcare, and the field was changing (not necessarily for the better, mind you!). I remember my aunt saying to me one evening: "I didn't become a nurse to push a pencil" as she was endlessly charting at the desk in the nursing station. Mind you, that was pre-computers, so all the charting that was required was done by hand. I didn't understand completely what she meant by that, but as I matured ~ (and after I graduated from nursing school!) ~ I fully understood her lament! The first year I was working as an R.N., I wanted to turn the clock back and go back to being a C.N.A. again! I'd been a C.N.A. for more than 20 years, off and on, and becoming an R.N. was like culture shock, and extremely traumatic for me. (More about that another time).
Integrating these professions: nursing, massage, and Reiki has become a focus for me. Someday, all three will be equally important in my Life and in my profession. I continually feel an urgent need to integrate the medical and the alternative or complementary medicine. I know it's coming. Perhaps, it's already here ...
Thanks for letting me ramble on, my friends :)
Blessings, Light, and Love ~
Reiki RN
