Letter Challenge

To my future patient,

I truly care for you.

It might be weird or awkward to hear this from a stranger who will probably only be your nurse for one shift but I truly do care for you.

As a fellow person who is susceptible to sufferings, I want you to know I’m here for you. I may not be the brightest nurse nor am I the most skilled but I care for you sincerely and with all my heart.

I hope for you to get better. Please hang in there. I will be doing my very best to get you home to your family so don’t give up!

You are the reason I’m doing the very best that I can in the present, studying through late nights and mental breakdowns. You are the reason I chase this profession breathlessly.

My raison d’être is so that you may leave my life much healthier than when you came into it. My ikigai is to help you heal.

So, please listen to me when I say that you need to take your antibiotics for a certain amount of days.

Please forgive me when I wake you up in the middle of the night for another “godd@mn” blood sample.

Please forgive me for scolding you for trying to sneak a cigarette break—there’s no smoking in the hospital for chrissakes.

Please take it seriously when I say we need to re-evaluate your lifestyle choices and we need to figure out how you can cut back on alcohol and fast food for the 19th time.

Also, yes, you need to increase your fiber intake and exercise for at least 30 minutes for 3-5 days a week. Are you drinking enough water?

I’m sorry for crying with your husband now that your first baby is born.

And if I ever have the balls to take your phone away just so you can sleep more — I’m sorry for that as well.

Sweet sweet kiddo, I know you hate shots it’s going to hurt but only a little bit and I promise you can have candy right after — look we’re done! That wasn’t so bad! You were so brave—please don’t hate me ;-;

To my future patient,

Truth be told, I’m struggling right now. I’ve recently learned that I don’t actually have the study habits meant for higher, more complicated education and I still don’t know where to start. I doubt myself every day and I don’t know how to stop. There’s so much memorization and analyses involved and I can’t answer questions right when I never finished memorizing the facts.

Honestly speaking, I don’t know if I’ll ever get to meet you. I’m so anxious about my future everyday and it’s ridiculous and pathetic how often I cry about my grades.

It really hurts. I think so lowly of myself sometimes I don’t know who I am anymore. Some days I can’t even look at myself in the mirror.

My professors say that grades don’t make nurses and that what matters most is the comion the patients get but what if I’m actually so dumb that I won’t know what to do to make you feel better? What if I choke at a critical moment and freeze..?

I’m scared but...

I want to meet you...

Dear future patient,

Despite my anxieties and fears, I wholeheartedly want to meet you. I want to help you with all my heart and for that... to make that happen, I’ll keep going.

I’ll take good care of myself now and in the future, so that I can take care of you.

It no longer matters to me if I get those straight As because what matters most is that you’re taken care of by someone who understands and cares... someone with empathy and who knows anxieties and fears on a first name basis. It matters more to me at the end of the day that you and I make it home to our families.

I want to make that happen. I want to work hard and help give you more chances to say I love you to your loved ones.

I care for you, my future patient.

Thank you for making me who I am.

Sincerely,

Mia

#minimalbestie

#letterchallenge

#featurethis