Family Strain, Institutional Pushback, and Professional Risk

Our conversation with the CEO and nursing director, neither of which had a direct hand in any of Granny’s day to day care but did hold final responsibility for the staff who did, was on February 14, 2020. We were cordial, but we were also very direct in detailing the twenty-plus falls in just three ...

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Neglect Meets Advocacy

I can’t say I ever enjoyed doing incident investigations through all the years I spent in safety. That said, the investigations were much easier for me to stomach that providing direct care. I’m fine with seeing my own blood, give me a piece of duct tape and we’re good to go, but I might just pass o...

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When Care Becomes Concern

Each adversity I’ve walked through to this point has been sequential. Truth be told, that’s how life works: a series of highs and lows that we each work through. If we’re intentional about identifying and nurturing any possible seed from each adversity, we have a strong shot at making sure each high...

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When High Hopes Hit Reality

Late ā€˜99 and early ā€˜00 was, at least to that point, the busiest period of our lives. We had just moved into our new home on two and a half acres of recently subdivided farm land so there was a tremendous amount of work to do there. I was picking up any side work I could find, carpentering and pickin...

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Mining Your Foundation for Seeds

I can barely wait to push forward in sharing more about how impactful serving as bouncer for my friend’s sister was as well as how my working relationship developed with the maintenance supervisor who walked by my machine a few times each day. We’re not quite ready for that yet, though. First, we ne...

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Courage and Self-Control Emerge

Consistency nurtures seeds from bad situations, turning quiet efforts into visible growth and preparation for bigger roles. During my second year as a second shift manufacturing employee, I applied the same persistence I was developing during my shift to my new found love for working out. Throughout...

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Facing the Mirror

My senior year of high school was a whirlwind. While I did the bare minimums to skate through my required classes, I was working as hard as I knew how in what turned into a full time job before I even graduated and dove in head first to every other kind of shenanigan I could find as soon as I clocke...

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The Value of a Beginner's Mindset

A beginner’s enthusiasm is a wonderful thing. This type of enthusiasm is what brings the energy of wonder, curiosity, and openness that helps us learn and discover. The more we learn, grow, and master, the better we become.Ā  Over time, though, we often forget the beginner’s enthusiasm.Ā  If you find ...

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Learning From Loss to Lead Better

I (Cindy) don’t know a successful person that hasn’t learned from their losses in order to come back better than before.

It took Thomas Edison 10,000 attempts to perfect the light bulb.Ā  Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper job for lacking creativity.Ā  Michael Jordan was cut from his high school ...

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