Depending on where you live, March marks the arrival of spring and may mean different things to different people. For those in cold climates, it is the emergence from snow, ice, and maybe wind. From a phenological viewpoint, spring relates to the blossoming of several different types of plants, certain activities of various animals, or the smell that soil gets when warmed. This relationship between climate and biologic phenomena (Phenology, 2008) signals a time of growth and renewal, and some say is a metaphor for the start of better times after a long cold winter.
Renewal became part of the English vocabulary around 1686 and is a word used in many different contexts (Renewal, 2008). Political parties around the world use it in their names. People of faith use it to describe the process of spiritual regeneration, and a variety of new age disciplines make use of renewal when looking to help stressed individuals relieve the pressure in their lives. Government and policy makers use it to describe the redevelopment of urban areas that have not aged so gracefully. Its use in describing the spring, the process of nature's beginning again, will serve as the inspiration for this discussion.
How does this apply to plastic surgical nurses? We all need the periodic renewal that the metaphor of spring brings to our lives. Renewal is the spark that can revive passion, commitment, and integrity in our work and our lives. Finding this spark may not always be easy. It may be preceded by some not so pretty transitions. Palmer (n.d.) articulates this clearly in his essays about the seasons:
I will wax romantic about spring and its splendors in a moment, but first there is a hard truth to be told: before spring becomes beautiful, it is plug ugly, nothing but mud and muck. I have walked in the early spring through fields that will suck your boots off, a world so wet and woeful it makes you yearn for the return of ice. But in that muddy mess, the conditions for rebirth are being created.
In our daily lives and work, we see this same scenario. I am sure you can identify with situations where you find yourself up to more than your ankles in the mud of work and/or the muck of life. And though the solutions may present themselves to you slowly and tentatively, your hope cultivates tenacity and this hope grows until your desired outcome emerges just as the smallest shoots appear from the ground in spring. In nature, these modest beginnings continue to grow at an alarming rate until an abundance of blossom leaves and newborn fauna fill our world.
This splendor of spring has inspired the passion of poets and songwriters to create works that encourage us to live a life of growth and color that is so characteristic of this season.
As long as the Earth can make a spring every year, I can. As long as the Earth can flower and produce nurturing fruit, I can, because I'm the Earth. I won't give up until the Earth gives up. - -Alice Walker, American Writer and Poet (1944-) (Walker, 2008)
It is this sense of determination that inspires us to spring forward (Figure 1) during spring each year. Renewal is contagious and expansive, as described in the song "Spring Fever" (Giant, Baum, & Kaye, 2007):
A little bird, he told me so
He said come on, get on the go
Open your eyes the sky is full of butterflies
The blossoms on the trees stir up the honey bees
Spring makes my fever right
Spring fever, spring is here at last
Spring fever, my heart's beating fast
Get up, get out spring is everywhere
I especially like the "Get up, get out" part of this song. I would finish this sentence: Get up, get out inspiration is everywhere. And this inspiration is the beginning of an idea that is emerging from the fertile ground of your experience. It may feel slow to come together, but with perseverance, it can blossom into an article and become a gift. According to ancient wisdom, to keep this inspiration alive, you must pass it along. Submit this manuscript to Plastic Surgical Nursing. Your plastic surgical nursing colleagues will read it and learn things that enable them to give their patients better care, thus keeping it alive.
For further inspiration, just look at the great articles within this issue of the journal. For this issue, I made a trip to the vault and selected some of the best articles of the last 5 years that cover various topics involving the psychological aspects of plastic surgical nursing. Among the topics are concepts of beauty, the association between visual disfigurement and depression, stress and coping in patients and caregivers, a national survey regarding psychological complications and implications for prophylactic mastectomy, breast reduction, and breast augmentation surgery. In addition, there is information about assessment of the patient with eating disorders and compliance. If you are still concerned about where to start or have other questions, I am available to answer your questions and I am very happy to mentor authors.
Please feel free to forward your comments to me and the editorial board by writing to us at Plastic Surgical Nursing, American Society of Plastic Surgical Nurses, 7794 Grow Drive, Pensacola, FL 32514-7072 or send an e-mail to Candise Flippin at mailto:[email protected].
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