A few weeks ago, on a New York City subway (the #1 train heading downtown), I saw this poem by Marilyn Nelson behind a few passengers’ heads.
A Strange Beautiful Woman
met me in the mirror
the other night.
Hey,
I said,
What are you doing here?
She asked me
the same thing.
I read it several times while the train arrived and left station after station, slowly absorbing its meaning, and thought, this could have been written for nurses and many other health professionals.
When I see nurses start their day, crisp in scrubs or other clothes, and then at the end of the day, a bit worse for wear, I see beauty in the smudges and stains, in the now loose and sagging pants, in the small disarray of a hair-lock.
If we don’t wear our hearts on our sleeves, we certainly do everywhere else!
Take a moment to think about what you see when you look in the mirror. If you are like me, you might be examining your image and zoom into “what’s wrong,” or what is “not picture perfect.”
But look into your eyes, or imagine a favorite coworker’s eyes you are looking into and, I bet, you can feel a bit of smile and a skipped beat of your heart, knowing he or she is looking back at you.
We frequently don’t see beauty in who we are while attending to the hard, messy and sometimes anguishing work we do.
More often our reflection at the end of a tough day goes to small self-critisisms. But reflection is not meant to be a harsh and unforgiving process; it is meant to let in what’s beneath all that, knowing you help others, maybe not perfectly (who does!) but perfectly enough. And that is beautiful.
Next time you look in the mirror at the beautiful person looking back at you, nod a hello and say, “I know exactly what you are doing here.” And smile.
I will, too.
Much love to you and to your person in the mirror.
Jackie
New eBook: Refill Your Cup
Here are more ways to connect with your person in the mirror.
In Refill Your Cup I share some of my favorite ways to find the beautiful while working in the hard, messy and sometimes anguishing world of healthcare.
I’ve heard from several people who already put these to work and say they are noticing a difference, too.
Here’s the link to download your free copy of Refill Your Cup.