You’re Worth It by Kyle Carpenter
Book - You’re Worth It by Kyle Carpenter
Background - I’m a Registered Nurse who has worked at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital for the last four years.
Although and overall rewarding career, being a nurse is very challenging sometimes. Seeing people when they’re at their sickest can often bring the worst out in people, and unfortunately the nurses who are there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, seem to cop the back end of all of this.
Book’s Advice - Kyle Carpenter was a U.S. Marine who, in 2010 was manning a lookout in Afghanistan, when a grenade was thrown up o to the roof where Carpenter and his buddy were situated.
Without even thinking twice about his own well-being, he sacrificed himself by jumping on top of this grenade. He underwent dozens of surgeries to mend his life threatening injuries and is now the youngest, living Medal of Honor recipient. He has since written a book about his experience, especially focusing on his recovery and the impact that split second decision has had on his life.
One day when he was thanked for his service by a taxi driver, he simply replied ‘you’re worth it’.
End State - Although nursing in a hospital is far from the battlefields of Afghanistan, I was able to relate to Carpenter’s words, ‘you’re worth it’.
I think about this when patients don’t seem to appreciate the hard work and struggles that nurses go through when caring for people when they’re at their worst; and I think about this when the odd patient here and then is extremely grateful for their care. It reminds me why I became a nurse in the first place, to serve.
‘If we don’t spend our time on this earth looking out for one another, what are we really doing with our lives?’
