From Grief to Grit: A Nurse's Truth
From Grief to Grit: A Nurse’s Truth
In my last post, I shared how I completed my ADN program and had just started dialysis. The year was 2018, and I had just been hired by a nursing agency based out of Georgia. They staffed nurses at state behavioral health facilities—work that would ultimately lead me to discover my true calling.
Since then, I’ve worked in medical-surgical units, dialysis, and step-down care. But my heart has always been drawn to behavioral health. That passion isn’t by accident. It’s because mental health touches all of us—patients and providers alike. Every single human being grapples with sadness, anxiety, depression, grief… life.
And in 2022, life hit hard.
In July of that year, I lost my younger brother. Just two months later, in September, my mother passed. And before the year was over, my youngest brother—only 29 years old—was shot and unalived.
Three losses. One year. The kind of pain that can break a person.
But somehow, I kept showing up. Not just to work, but to life.
I don’t say that for applause. I say it because I’ve come to understand that resilience isn’t about never breaking down—it’s about refusing to stay there. It’s about honoring the people who raised me: my grandmother, my mother, and even my father—who was born in 1925 in Alabama and lived through a time when surviving meant facing down the KKK.
I’ve seen strength modeled in the most selfless ways. Like watching my mother care for my uncle when we had almost nothing, yet somehow had more than enough love to go around.
That love, that legacy, is why I’m still here.
And yet, as deeply as I believe nursing is a calling—it is not an invitation to accept burnout, exploitation, or being chronically underpaid.
Let’s be real: nurses today are being stretched thinner than ever. We're expected to be not just the nurse, but the counselor, the social worker, the therapist, the physical therapist, the pharmacist, and in some cases, even the provider.
And while I serve out of compassion, compassion doesn't pay the bills.
So let’s talk money.
(Stay tuned for my next post, where I’ll dive into the realities of nurse compensation, advocating for fair pay, and how we can honor our calling without sacrificing our worth.)