Wins, Loses, and Burnout

"The nurse is in that room day in and day out. You give a piece of yourself to that child. But intimacy has its dangers. You have to be able to set it aside. You can't come in on your days off. You have to be able to go home at the end of the day and have a glass of wine, or go rock climbing, or visit with friends. If you can't go home and rebuild, you'll burn out. You won't be able to handle the losses if your just surviving off the wins. Because the losses are severe. you were allowed into that child's life at their most intimate time, and you were trusted. And that is a gift. And even in death, you learned something from that child that made you a better person and a better nurse."

-Humans of New York