I am a critical care nurse, a travel nurse, a travel lover, a dog lover, a dog mom, an introvert (although at work, you'd guess I am extroverted), an empath, an INFJ, a truth seeker, a dreamer, a deeply serious soul with a wicked sense of humor, an aunt, a friend, a daughter, and a sister. These are my thoughts and experiences about nursing and life. I have changed quite a bit since starting this blog, but to honor where I have been and where I am going I have kept all my entries whether or not they are memories that I want to keep. My goal in life is to obtain inner peace, be the change, and mostly to be a beautiful soul! Namaste, my friends!!

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Grit and Grace

I realize it's been ages since I've posted, sorry. I've been feeling rather uninspired in certain ways and needed to do some soul searching in others. This post has been a long time coming. About 4 years ago I found a shirt that reads "Grit and Grace." I immediately resonated with this phrase and bought the shirt. I was raised in a religion where grace was not talked about a lot. The emphasis was on works and grace was only briefly mentioned by the wayside. Because of this I did not really even understand the concept of grace until about 8 years ago. For the first time I heard grace described as a noun and a verb. This was not a concept I was familiar with, but once I heard it I grew to love the idea of grace. This phrase has become a mantra of sorts for me. A goal for my life. Much like Namaste has become for me. Some of my favorite grace and grit quotes are (thank you, Pinterest!) (Sorry about the funky layout):













I remember several years ago working with a nurse who taught me quite a bit about grace. It was a super stressful day. We had a patient who was extremely sick and on the verge of dying. Another department showed up to do a procedure at the bedside. Chaos and frenzy arrived with them and the staff started demanding things, rushing around, etc. The nurse at the bedside stopped them at this time and said "We're going to need you guys to give us a little grace today, okay?" Many years later that request has stayed with me. Asking someone for grace. Giving grace. What a beautiful idea and one that EVERYONE needs. I'm not talking about religion here. Grace, compassion, empathy, kindness- those have become my religion. I realize this concept started with religion, but I believe it's applicable without religion as well. I'm at a place in my personal life right now where I don't believe in God. At least not the God I was raised to know. I'm not atheist, but more like agnostic. I acknowledge that there is probably something/ someone bigger than us out there. I don't believe in randomness, so someone must have created everything. However, the God I was raised to know was not one I want to know, but a total contradiction to the idea of grace, that I don't want to be associated with. I'm not here to debate about religion, don't worry. I'm not interested in debate/ argument. I want to believe in God, but it cannot be forced and I have no desire to pretend. My answers will come in their own due time. By grace.

Grit. With grit you are powerful. Undefeated. Anything is possible. Life is hard work. It can be painful. It can be overwhelming. Grit is required to accomplish anything of worth. Everyday life requires grit. Not to mention the hard times. I love this phrase so much. I tattoo'd both words on my body in a place where I can see it all the time so that I have a permanent reminder. I get asked all the time who "grace" is. Not a person. People who ask almost always do not understand that it's a noun/ verb as well. The looks of confusion make me sad that others are not so well acquainted with grace. Today these words are enough to remind me that I want to go through life with grit and grace.When I had surgery on my broken wrist (a story for another day), they cut right through the grace. I decided not to get it re-inked, because what is more real than a scar through "grace"? Please give yourselves and others a little grace today. Namaste, friends!




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