Reflections

As Nursing the Brave New World approaches its anniversary, I’m taking a moment to reflect on the incredible stories shared over the past year and the common thread that connects them all—nursing takes heart.

Nursing continues to change and evolve, but at its core, it is still about people, connection, compassion and showing up for others during some of their hardest moments.

Join me as I reflect on why I started this podcast, what I’ve learned from the nurses who have shared their journeys, and why I believe our stories matter. You never know when your story may be exactly what someone else needs to hear. ❤️

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Nursing the Brave New World, where I taught sit down and talk with individual nurses about their stories. This episode is going to be a little bit different. So last year I started the podcast, and the anniversary of my last podcast actually was 10-4 2025. So as we approach the anniversary of the podcast, I found myself thinking a lot about what has transpired over the last year and what I've been a part of. And like, you know, when I started this, like what my goal was, and things like this. Um, and I really just wanted to give people a space to share their story, share kind of what happened in their life and nursing, how they found it, kind of some things they've learned along the way. The stories have all been very different, different experiences, different people, different reasons for choosing nursing, but there has been one common thread that I have noted in every episode where I've taught to every person. And that common thread is that nursing truly does take heart. And I've asked myself so many times over the last few days as I've gotten ready to record this, what does it mean to have heart? What does that really mean? Like we say that people have heart, but what what is that? How do we how do we uh quantify that, qualify that? And what I would say today is that heart is being totally invested in whatever it is you're doing, being passionate about that thing, caring deeply about that thing, becoming a part of whatever that is you're doing, it actually becomes a part of who you are. Um, I think having heart and nursing reaches beyond the patient, it reaches beyond the families, it reaches beyond communities and providers. Because so many people are touched by nurses every day because most people are at a low point when they experience the care of a nurse. I started nursing the Brave New World because I wanted all the amazing nurses out there to be able to share just a small fraction of what they've learned. Um, because nursing is really a lot more than three 12-hour shifts a week or five days a week, eight-hour shifts. Um, it's stepping into the lives of the people you care about. Even if it's charts you're reviewing, even if it's administrative work you're doing, you are touching people no matter what you're doing, no matter what role you're in. It's important. But at the bedside, there's so many scared, angry, grieving, and exhausted people, and people that are truly just overwhelmed. And you know, there are many times when we're at the bedside that we think that someone's being difficult and unkind, and we wonder why. And we don't always know the hurt that they're going through that day. We don't know the fear, we don't know the pain that they're going through. We see the anger on the outside, but we also don't know what's brewing on the inside, and that's why the importance of kindness is so important. I always say kindness matters, and I'm sure I'm not the person who coined that phrase, but it is really important, no matter who you're encountering, that you be kind because you don't know what battle they may be facing, whether it be a battle internally or it be a battle within their family, with you know, there could be many things happening, a few kind words, a few minutes of listening. One of the things that I learned early on in my nursing career, and I'm not sure I shared on my nursing journey, was in order to listen and glean from a patient and really absorb and be an active listener, I tried to always put myself at a lower level than the patient. There were definitely times that I couldn't do that, but if a patient was going through a really difficult time, I would try to, you know, kneel or even squat down low on their bed in their bed area to just kind of make sure they knew that I heard them, they were being seen and they were valued at that moment because so many of them may be in a situation at home or wherever they're at that they may not be heard and seen and valued. So it's important that we as nurses give them that extra kindness and love that they need at that moment. As I look back over this last year, I realized that even if you only shared your story for 20 minutes or 30 minutes or 40 minutes, I wanted to thank each and every person who took time out of their day to share their story because your story, no matter how small you think it is, it could have made a difference for someone listening on my podcast. I didn't start this podcast to be a popular person, I only started it because I feel like nursing, although it has evolved so much and changed so much since I started so many years ago, it's still very much a servant heart industry where you truly have to be invested into it. And one of the things that is so incredibly amazing about nursing is there's so many different opportunities within nursing, whether you do bedside, whether you go become a nurse practitioner, if you go into leadership. So I wanted to remind people that even though this episode that's coming out and you're listening to it is not really a person's story, I want to remind you that even if this podcast stops today as you listen to this story, I want you to know that you impacted my life by sharing your story. And I thank you so much. No matter who it was, from the first person that I talked to, which was Shelly, to the last person that shared their story, which was Cesta. I thank you all. I thank you for being here, for showing up, and for being present. And if you decide that you would love to share your story with nursing the brave new world, you can email email me at nursing the brave new world at gmail.com. Again, this is not a popularity contest. I'm not trying to make a lot of money by doing this podcast. I am just doing it so people can share their journey and their story. Um, if you have a short story that you would like to share, I would love to hear more about it. You can connect with me um through this email address that I shared because you never know who may be listening on the other side of this and how their story might be exactly what they need to hear. Your story may be exactly what they need to hear that day.