The Humbling

So, I was humbled this week. Taken down off my proverbial high-horse. Well, it wasn't as bad as all that, but it WAS frustrating and (if i'm being honest)a little embarassing. We validated this week on making an occupied bed. It's not that big a deal, in theory. Roll patient to one side, push dirty bottom sheet under patient, put clean bottom sheet on empty half of bed and squish other half under previously squished dirty sheets. Go to other side of bed, roll patient over onto clean side, pull dirty sheets out, pull clean sheet over rest of bed, put clean top sheet on, pull dirty top sheet and blanket out, replace blanket, tuck all, have a nice day. (Okay, there's a LITTLE more to it than that), but you get the gist of it. Maybe I was just having a bad day, or maybe I was tired, but I was just a little 'off' during my validation. First, I tried to miter the wrong end of the bed on the bottom sheet. (That's a special way to fold the corner of the sheet under the mattress.) Then, I couldn't get my miter to work properly (even though I had practiced it tons of times), and then I couldn't remember what order to do the top sheet in. It was just rough. To make matters worse, there was a whole roomful of my fellow students watching my debacle. (That's what I get for volunteering to go first!) I mean, it's not that big a deal. I got a high A on the validation. No problemo. I'm just frustrated because, contrary to what my professor probably now thinks, I DID practice for the validation. I DID learn how to miter that corner. I just didn't manage to bring it all together for show-time. Ugh.

What I take from this is: Nursing school is going to be a humbling experience. If I'm not big enough to handle a little loss-of-face, then I'm not big enough to care for the dying, or the frightened, or the lonely, or the sick. And God led me to do those things. So, this was good for me. It was the first of what is probably many not-so-amazing validations. And that's okay. Later!