Why We Really Choose to Care

Florence Nightingale once said, “Nursing is an art; and if it to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion.” In choosing this career, this path, we did not just choose a profession.

We chose a purpose. A life-long responsibility. But, in a world full of challenges, where caring is often easier said than done, where it is often more than we expect, why do we really choose to care?

I would like to think that we care for a purpose. It is the carative process of everything that makes us nurses. We define our career by being the person who will give care. Every skill we master and every lesson we learn equips us to comfort, to support, and to heal. According to Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring, nursing as a profession, emphasizes the importance of the nurse-patient relationship and caring is the central focus of nursing practice.

What is the next reason? For me, it is we care because of hope. In our arms, our patients find comfort, they find safety. We envelope ourselves to them to make them feel that they do not have to be scared. In our embrace, they find a reason to keep going.

Lastly, I would like to think that we as nurses are resilient. Times have changed and we evolved with it. There have been numerous times where we found ourselves in the front lines.

And even in the end, we fought. Hard, fulfilled with determination to finish what has started.

We chose to care not just because we can. But because it is a calling. It is because we

know that it will save a life.

I want to leave you with one thing – let us all carry that purpose with us at all times.

Because nursing – this is more than just a profession. It is a calling.