Project 365 - Day 23

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts." -Florence Nightingale

This fall I will graduate from RN school. I have loved every minute of the crazy, stressful adventure. It has been a long time coming and I am glad that it is almost over. I am truly satisfied with my career choice. Even as much as I have come to love photography, it will probably never be something that I will do solely as a profession. Maybe someday I will do random side jobs and I do it for my own enjoyment, of course. I have an education now, granted it's only an AS degree, but it's a degree. I can get a job and work while I continue my education from here.

I love nursing. It is dynamic and diverse with a plethora of options and opportunities. It feeds my passion for learning because it is ever-changing. I love to learn and I am always learning here. It is one of the most rewarding careers on the planet. I feel so thankful and blessed that my job is to help people. Whether that is giving then a pill, hooking up an IV, or just talking to my patient, the feeling is the same. But as I learned these past almost two years, nursing isn't for everybody. This is what I will do on a daily basis: I put on a uniform and comfortable shoes, I give many, many medications in all routes, I measure emesis, I document bowel movements, I stick needles and tubes in my patients, change dressings on nasty wounds, and I do lots of paperwork. But I also touch, reassure, and listen. I feed those who can't feed themselves. I meet interesting people from all backgrounds and places and I learn something new everyday...even sometimes about myself.

It's special to me to see that I've have touched the life of someone and made a difference. If this is what I've done, then I can be happy with myself. I can look in the mirror and be proud and tell myself that I did a good job.