The Language of Kindness

by Christie Watson

What I would do – and who I would be – consumed me in a way that didn’t seem to worry my friends. I didn’t understand then that I wanted to live many lives, to experience different ways of living.

Sympathy, compassion, empathy: this is what history tells us makes a good nurse.

Nursing is a career that demands a chunk of your soul on a daily basis. The emotional energy needed to care for people at their most vulnerable is not limitless and there have been many days when, like most nurses, I have felt spent, devoid of any further capacity to give. I feel lucky that my family and friends are forgiving.

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Childbirth is like a soul splitting in two: that’s why it hurts so much.