Do we care from a place of fear or from a place of love?
The familiar feeling of fear can find its way into every area of our lives. In how we live, study, grow, work, and even how we care for our loved ones, clients, and ourselves. Do we allow it, that familiar fear, to become the driving force? Or instead, do we care from a place of love, which is, to will the good of the other?
Having walked the road from volunteer to family care partner, to student, to professional care partner I know how easy it is to walk the side of the path guided by fear. We fear loss, hurting someone, not being our best, and getting sick ourselves, we fear “the State” and the regulations put into place by both governing bodies and the owners of the community. We fear and the more we fear the less we can love. The greater our fear, the greater the chance we are not becoming the best care partners we can become.
With all we have in us, we must combat this fear and lean into trust and endless exploration of how to better love the person before us. We will not be perfect, we will make mistakes. The range of human emotions will be felt by all. And, research is not always correct on a one-on-one basis. The best skillset for the job is a willingness to learn, and our shared humanity lived in the desire to be in relationship with others, to grow in community, and to continue to become that which we were created to be.
So, do we care from a place of fear? Or do we care from a place of love? The choice is ours. The path will always remain unknown, the trials will always feel stronger than the triumphs. And when the day has ended, will we rest easier knowing we lived in fear, striving for human perfection, or will we rest knowing we did our best to love and magnify the beauty of life?