Connections Here, There, & Everywhere

I sit here in a coffee shop in California, relishing the memories I have been able to create over the past few years. I decided to make the leap and become a travel nurse in 2022, leaving behind my friends and the first (and only) nursing job I had for a completely new city, thousands of miles away, where I knew not a single soul. In the (almost) two years since I made the decision to move forward with my goal of traveling the US as a nurse, I have made the most beautiful, genuine, and impactful connections of my life. It never fails to astonish me just how many people you can connect with in this world. I believe that every interaction has meaning, regardless of it lasts thirty seconds or thirty years. You can have an impact on the lives of those around you, simply with a smile and acknowledgement of their existence. Recognition of the existence of others in your presence is something so minor, so easy, and yet so underappreciated. I have created countless interactions with people and every time it has begun with a smile or simple question. Every connection I make, I cherish and I nurture. People say that marriage takes commitment, it takes love and patience, it takes work. I feel that friendships and relationships within life are worth giving that same energy. Now not everyone would agree, but I do believe that if you care about someone, then you take the initiative to maintain that connection.

I am now working at my third location as a travel nurse and it is safe to say that I have met more people, gone on more adventures, explored more places, and taken more risks in the time I have been traveling than I thought possible. The world is as big as you make it. To some, it may feel small, with people swirling around you on a daily basis that you have known for all your life. To others, it may feel overwhelmingly large, brimming with opportunities and people. Everyone has their own experiences, their own stories, their own truths. Wouldn't the world be so beautiful if we all genuinely cared to learn the truths of those around us?

Connections may be miniscule--a tiny thread weaving us together in ways you cannot see, but they are everywhere, and they are undeniable.

-Alicia Rose