My wife is a hero. She is a night shift travel ICU nurse. She is about to change her course.
Since our local community hospital closed, she has spent the last six years spending days away from her family to help others that people care for; caring for the people whom need it more. She has lost plenty of holidays and celebrations as her work is selfless. While she will never ask me what to do or when to do it because she is an incredibly clever girl, I do monitor her happiness and try to advise justly.
I can tell when she is tired. It is never about the patients, as she would work to the bone for them. It is more often about the administration or how they choose to spend for their talent. Many times, she is overwhelmed as we all are sometimes. The ones who do step it up when they have to are the gears that keep the world going.
I have asked her a great many times, “Are you happy?”, and she always tells me that it is not about that, but rather that it is necessary. She knows that client care comes first, second, and foremost.
Let me circle back a little bit …
Thirteen or so years ago, my wife became a registered nurse. Her grandma, aunts, and even my mother helped her find that path from their own contributions to helping others. When she first asked me, “What should I do?“, she was in her 30s, and I said as I always do: “Perhaps now is a great time to turn your life around. Go help others.”
I have never met a more nurturing person. She worked hard full-time and also got her degree. She got positions you have to ask for or else they do not come to you. None of it was luck. It will always be hard work, effort, and drive. When people said, “That is not how that works,” she always put in the efforts. It was no surprise to me when she said, “I am tired and need to find something else.”
Then I did the thing. I had promised it for a while. I knew if she asked, she would receive exactly what she was looking for.
That is how the universe works. We ask. We receive. It is always a “No” if you do not try.
She said, “I cannot apply for those positions (because) I do not have the experience.”
I told her how much faith I had in her and how no one could possibly have an advantage over her, as she has seen all the things. Sometimes that is how it goes. Often, we do not realize the contribution that we have made. Never sell yourself short.
Every day is a brand new opportunity to turn it all around.
What I realize, the same as our younger kids (as we started over) is that it is not about the miles or dollars, or even the impact that she has had on all those families and peers. It is about the present and how she can make that better than it ever was. For her, money adds up but money, alone, is never enough. It is just math. Time runs out and sometimes we have to worry more about that. More often than not we get caught up in what we are doing and lose sight of what is right in front of us.
Ask and ye shall receive. Life can be that easy. If you ever feel like your path might be waning, simply change course and, I promise you, tomorrow is a brand-new day.
It is never a matter of your worth, but it is only a sum of your merit. You got this.
My wife will be a night supervisor soon and get the management experience she needs to go even further. We all have a starting point. Imagine it: Where do you want to be, a year from now? If you could do anything?
We are proud of you. It is never a race. Stay the course and continue to build the world that you want to live in. Imagine how happy her 9- and 10-year-old kids were when they realized that they would see her more.
All the things that you think are out of reach are possible if you try. If you never try, though, you will always fail. Take the chance. The one thing that I can guarantee you is that if you do not take a chance, someone else will.
You got this. I know you do.
