As a child growing up in Thailand my grandparents taught me the importance of motivation, commitment to community, and on-going learning. I embraced these ideals and carried them with me when my family moved to New York City to begin a new life; in the process I met Glenn, love of my life. I graduated top of my class with a BS degree in Accounting from Fordham University while working full time through hard work and dedication. I worked during the day, went to school in the evening, and studied at night through this vigorous program considering English is my second-language. I can still recall my grandfather saying “You don’t travel half of the world to give up.” Glenn was always by my side with words of encouragement. I learned the importance of words, especially to love-ones and how we can inspire others to keep on doing until they reach their potentials.
At Fordham University, I also learned the deep
meaning of dedication, discipline, leadership, knowledge, and strength;
reinforced later from inspirational life stories of Fordham alumnus, Vincent Lombardi who exemplified in "the Pursuit of Excellence". His speech, "We are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it; because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentless chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just be good". This tradition of pursuit of greatness is instilled in me and has shaped my character to always do my very best of everything I do.
Glenn and I had a dream
of owning a business. We were successful
running our own import/export and retailed company. However, a large chunk of our life was fading
like the movie “Groundhog Day” feeling stuck to the same routine. Time was just passing us by the next thing we
knew 10 years had gone by. The feelings of discontentment
led us to explore a pursuit
of happiness for something else beyond the material things. After selling the business, we took a break
to travel the world. The beginning of our salvation feeling
renewed and refreshed; after 6 months of traveling and living on beautiful
beaches and islands, we got bored. There
had to be more. We became
involved with volunteer work in Thailand where we taught English and cared for
children with HIV. The experience
changed both of our lives.
I grew up in a household of nurses and recall heartfelt stories
from family members who were deeply committed to the nursing profession and
patient care. They spoke of nursing as a
professional practice and a “calling” whereby nurses are engaged in caring for
others and making a difference in their lives.
We
began to feel the positive emotion of what they were talking about “helping
others” and not just doing things for our self- interest. Gandhi said, “The
best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” We redirected our focus toward living a more
meaningful life by devoting ourselves to the well-being of others. These factors make perfect sense to us and caring has become an
integral part of who we are. We then made the
decision to become registered nurses and start a new chapter of our lives.
Last year, we had the unique opportunity of completing a nursing practicum
for master degree program in Thailand. During this course of study, we became
aware of the need for competent palliative care, education, and research on
palliative care in Asia and really want to help. My ultimate goal is to develop nursing
practice modalities that will improve the quality of end of life care. Through my Fulbright research project, I will
be able to learn more about Palliative Care in the Philippines and the
challenges and opportunities inherent in providing care in a resource-limited
country. I am thrilled to be a Fulbrighter, but most importantly is to deepen my knowledge to
ease suffering of people. This is what I truly am passionate about.
I truly want to make a different and I do not mean that one has to leave
the country to do so. I ask myself every
day; “How can I be a better partner, daughter, sister, or human being? What do I want to get better at? Make conscious decision to be
kind, be considerate of others, and always give all I got of what I do.
Through our life changing experiences, we realize
that happiness is a state of mind. Happiness
is already here within us. There is
nowhere else to be. It is the quality of
this present moment. Play attention to
our surroundings, what everyone is thinking or feeling. Play attention what we are doing or
saying. Pay attention to life. There are so many things in this world that we
can be happy about and we should not take life for granted. I read the book “The Top Five Regrets
of the Dying,” was written by Bronnie Ware, an
Australian palliative care nurse.
Bronnie eloquently expresses the significance of these regrets by
applying the lessons to her own life.
The heartfelt story explains how everyone can make conscious choices
while we still have time to address these issues and to die with peace of mind
of no regrets.
Working with the dying, every
death witnessed should serve as a reminder that “I” should have the courage to
live a life true to myself. I do not
want to feel regret that my dreams are not fulfilled settling for a
mediocre existence because fear of change or stuck in my
comfort zone. We maybe have 100
years or less to live. Every day goes
by, we get older not younger. Everyone
we love and we will die. The one
definitive true we can count on. The
moment to be happy is right here, right now, and counting down. Surround yourself with people that you enjoy
being with. Follow your heart to do
things that excited you, make you feel good.
Live your life with positive attitude each and every day. Select your thoughts that put you in good mood. Be your authentic self, be you, and be proud
of who you are. Life is so sweet but so
short, embrace every little moment right now.
This is the story of an ordinary person doing ordinary human things to make her happy.
Usar Suragarn, MSN, BSBA, RN
No comments:
Post a Comment