LOVE WHAT YOU DO

As the quote from Steve Jobs states, you must love what you do to obtain greatness. I have been contemplating writing about this for awhile and then this came from Steve. I think that is serendipity. So here I go with my thoughts on this subject. I will speak specifically about hospice staff. Others often ask us how we can do this job, that it must be so depressing. Working in hospice is not at all depressing. It is the opposite...it is uplifting. The very 1^st thing we see is the relief on the face of the caregiver and the release of tension in their muscle groups as they open the door to us. Blessing number one for us. We then get to see the patient & hear from them how glad they are that we came to visit them. Blessing number two. If the patient can't talk, we see the change in them non-verbally when we are there. I have often said that if you don't really love working in hospice that you will soon 'wash' yourself out. That doesn't mean that you are 'bad'. It simply means that there is another area where you will shine. For me, I have had an on-going love affair working in hospice. Others may think that we are 'hardened' to death & dying. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are such emotional beings. We cry, we pray, we hurt, we grieve, and yet we go on giving of ourselves. We could never do this if we didn't love what we did! When we make a patient more comfortable, teach the caregiver something new or perhaps only iterate what we've already taught (with all of the stress on the caregiver it is easy to understand that they sometimes can't retain what we've previously said). We hospice workers are pros at practicing patience without ever having an attitude. Seeing the patient clean, safe, and having less symptoms is another blessing. Having a cup of tea with the caregiver and allowing him/her to express what they are feeling as we help them work thru these feelings is another blessing. The relationships that we build is awesome. Another blessing. As you may be beginning to see, we receive many more blessings than we think that we have given. My being a terminally ill patient now and relying on my many hospice friends as an important part of me having a support system, I can readily see the many blessings that they give that they are not even aware of. It truly is a love/love relationship. Here I must state; if you don't love what you do, PLEASE don't do it. I have also truly be blessed to have been directed to working in hospice many years ago. As of the present time, I am privileged to be able to be a volunteer with a longer time goal of going out into the field once again as an RN. To all of you in hospice care-giving, let your spirits glow! I am filled with so much love & joy to have known each and everyone of you. As my daughter always says, you make my heart smile!