¶ … Job
"Self-esteem is as important to our well-being as legs are to a table. It is essential for physical and mental health and for happiness" (Hart, 1987). In 1990, when I accepted employment as a psychiatric aide at Norristown State Hospital, my best job, I did not fully understand the concept of caring for myself, not only physically, but spiritually and mentally, as well. Nor did I completely comprehend that the individuals I would work with for the next 3 years, those people experiencing mental health problems, who some in our society labeled as "crazy," were not that different from me, or the ones who sometimes thoughtlessly labeled them.
Initially, when I began work, I was apprehensive. Could I handle the job? I wondered. Could I cope with unstable, abnormally anxious and deeply depressed people? At times, as I carried out my primary responsibilities of caring for mentally ill individuals, I experienced a barrage of emotions. As I daily witnessed each of them struggling to raise their self-esteem, however, I began to care about them as individuals.
In turn, I began to change and grow.
Some of the patients, I learned, worried about most things in their lives. Others had experienced terrifying traumas that left them afraid of any unexpected sound. Some of the individuals were so depressed; they wouldn't look me in the eye when I first met them. Some struggled with drugs and/or alcohol, which may have created or complicated their mental battles. Sadness taunted most of them. Each person, I learned, had never developed a healthy sense of their worth; of who they were, or had, somewhere in life, lost their ability to treasure themselves.
When I left my best job in 1993, I took away more than I had at the start. To this day, I treasure lessons those I cared for, taught me. As I reflect on those who "made it," and how some remembered how to smile, I smile, knowing that caring for others helps one care for himself.
Bibliography
Hart, L. (1987). The Winning Family. (The Columbia World of Quotations, 1996) Retrieved on June 3, 2006 at http://www.bartleby.com/66/76/26976.html.
