Focus on your legacy, not the footnotes!

Have you ever wondered why mentors or colleagues betray you or do things they know are detrimental to your career? Ever since I can remember, I have pondered this phenomenon. I recall expending a lot of energy trying to understand their motives—in other words, the “why" question. It took me a long time to make peace with the fact that, no matter how much you revere a nurse or how kind a colleague is to your face, he or she can betray you in a second in the worst way.

Like you, I have heard countless stories of how malicious gossip, spread by those with an appetite for cynicism, has damaged a nurse’s reputation The lesson I had to learn was to separate the person’s actions from the noble profession of nursing.

When I decided to become a nurse, it was more than a career decision. It was a choice motivated, in part, by an internal sense that my call to nursing was to heal and help others live a life of quality and, more importantly, integrity. I have been privileged during my life’s journey to know inspiring individuals who happen to be nurses. They are people I can trust and turn to for advice and wise counsel. Unfortunately, as with some of you, I have also experienced betrayal and often wondered how we advance our profession by hurting other nurses.

Well, through the years, I have ceased asking myself that question and, instead, decided to focus on the legacy I want to leave. In trying to fix nurses who engage in destructive behaviors, we eventually lose our selves and our purpose.

So, here is my advice. No matter how tempting it is to seek revenge, don’t. Instead, focus on what brought you to nursing, and resolve to be a healing rather than a destructive force. Smile, because when your life journey ends, you will be remembered for the investment you made in improving people’s lives. More importantly, the legacy of your nursing career will outlive any negative footnotes created about you by those who have sadly lost sight of the core values of our noble profession.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.