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The Hero Within
by Deborah Grassman
Liv Fun: Vol 4 – Issue 2
“I could never do what you do!”
I hear this often, when people learn I am a hospice nurse practitioner at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
“Isn’t it depressing?” usually follows.
I used to think the same way. No one told me I could find peace, joy and fulfillment in caring for people at the end of their lives. But I’ve now cared for more than 10,000 dying veterans in my 30-year career, and I have come to realize that I’ve learned lessons about peace by caring for men and women trained for war. Peace with ourselves and peace within ourselves.
As we go about the process of dying, we become fertile ground for healing: Stoic masks dissolve, illusions and denials about aging and death are penetrated, and the sacred becomes almost palpable. More importantly, people often summon the courage to die healed.
By most anyone’s definition, John was a failure. An alcoholic at age 13, he numbed his distressing emotions with alcohol rather than feeling the painful experiences. His stoic military training provided further reinforcement of this approach. His drinking held him back from any measurable success in his career or his relationships. He had a 6-year-old son he had never met.
Then at age 37, John was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He rocketed into despair until his failing health served as the wake-up call he needed to get his life on track.
The first thing John did was stop drinking. Sober and confronting a life-threatening illness, he saw things anew. His priorities shifted. He contacted his son’s mother, Donna, making arrangements to meet his son, Bailey.
Liv Fun
by Leisure Care
Summer 2015
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The Hero Within
by Deborah Grassman“I could never do what you do!” I hear this often, when people learn I am a hospice nurse practitioner at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). “Isn’t it depressing?” usually follows. I used to think the same way. No one told me I could find peace, joy and fulfillment in caring for people at the end of their lives.
Over the Edge
by Pam Mandel
Here are the things I was afraid of: The height. The heat. Holding everyone else up. Getting all the way down, and not being strong enough to make the trip back up. The way I’d feel the next day if I made my body do things it was not up for. So I didn’t go. I stayed behind with the guy with the new knee.
Leaving It All Behind
by Sue Peterson, CFA
As a wealth advisor, I understand how deeply rooted our personhood can be in proof of financial success. Yet as we age, one of the most courageous acts we can take is to begin intentionally reducing the size of our estate and prepare for that time when you leave it all behind.