We all seek meaning in various aspects of our lives, and when we work in nursing and healthcare, we often look for meaning and value in our professional lives. Finding that meaning can be central to our identity and happiness.
In his beautiful book Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity, author and poet David Whyte makes the following statement:
At its simplest, good work is work that makes sense and that grants sense and meaning to the one who is doing it and to those affected by it.
Whyte’s book is brimming with nuggets related to work and career; my personal copy is underlined, dog-eared, highlighted, and otherwise thumbed through with great interest, curiosity, and appreciation.
Identity and Nursing
If our identity as nurses is central to our personal identity, nursing takes on a meaning that can carry us through even the most difficult days or leave us weeping in confusion and defeat. Our work as nurses can lead us to witness great suffering, moments of triumph against all odds, and a sense that life, illness, and health are sometimes terribly unfair.
When a child suffers or dies despite our best efforts, we can wonder why God would allow such a horrendous thing to happen to one so innocent. On the other end of the spectrum, watching a destitute, isolated elder struggle in their final days of life can also underscore the inequities of life.
Meaning can emerge from suffering and from the beauty of a life well-lived. Nurses can witness all aspects of the human condition.
The Calloused Heart
We’ve likely all known cynical nurses who were hard as nails and with hearts calloused against pain. These nurses might use gallows humor to avoid their feelings and separate themselves from the pain occurring all around them; in doing so, how much are they cutting themselves off from finding true meaning in their work?
In his aforementioned book, David Whyte shares this thought: If I can reduce my image of work to just a job I do, then I keep myself safely away from the losses to be endured in putting my heart’s desire at stake.
Whyte struck a chord with me in this sentence. The nurse who cuts herself off from her heart’s desire and the deeper meaning of work stands to lose so much, perhaps even the very soul of what she does and why she does it.
Yes, part of why we work is to put food on the table, yet most of the nurses I’ve known entered the profession seeking much more than simply a means to a financial end; after all, there are many other professions offering much greater monetary reward.
We willfully allow our hearts to be callous over at our peril; nursing devoid of meaning or feeling is, in my view, a sure-fire recipe for burnout and compassion fatigue.
Whyte summed it up this way: All good work should have an edge of life and death to it, if not immediately apparent, then to be found by ardently exploring its greater context. Absent the edge, we drown in numbness.
Seeking the Edge
Taking David Whyte at his word, we may agree that some of us seek the edge in our work as nurses; rather than callous our hearts against loss and suffering, we embrace it with eyes wide open.
Now, some nurses may open themselves up so readily that burnout may take hold when their boundaries have collapsed. They find themselves wrapped up so deeply in their patients’ suffering that they lose touch with any sense of clinical distance or objectivity; I’ve been down this road myself. This is not something to condone or promote. However, we may agree that going to that edge (without falling off) can lend itself to finding meaning and a more expansive view of one’s nursing career.
Sense and Meaning
Mr. Whyte wrote: At its simplest, good work is work that makes sense, and that grants sense and meaning to the one who is doing it and to those affected by it.
Yes, our work as nurses can — and dare I say it must — make sense, and it can also carry greater meaning in the context of our lives as nurses and members of our communities. Our patients can feel when we’re connected and present; on the other hand, they can also easily sense when we’re feeling burned out and resentful.
This can come from teaching a nursing student to give an immunization, holding a child’s hand during chemotherapy, filling a pill box, or educating a dialysis patient as she enters an advanced phase of end-stage renal disease.
Meaning can also emerge from what we learn about ourselves within our work world. How do we treat our colleagues? What thoughts do we experience as we respond to yet another call bell? Can we approach that surgeon with slightly more patience? Would we treat our mother the way we treat the woman in room 207?
Nursing can consistently provide a platform for personal growth if we allow it to; this can truly help us find the meaning behind and beneath what we do as nurses.
In the weeks and months to come, I challenge you to seek deeper meaning in your work, no matter its clinical or non-clinical nature. Make meaning by seeking meaning; it’s often hidden within plain sight.
Your work as a nurse will take on the meaning you find and that which you consciously give it. Consider what nursing means to you in the deepest sense, and embody that meaning as you continue your career as a member of our powerful and consequential profession.
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