"Wounded Healer"

I was assigned a reading, Fostering Public Health Leadership by Howard Koh and Martha Jacobsen, for class this week and I found a quote from the article to be very interesting:

"Leaders in public health are generally driven by a profound and fundamental sense of mission. A sense of purpose motivates them to leave the comfort of the sidelines and wade into controversy, despite the uncertainty of outcomes. Many are ‘wounded healers’ who have suffered greatly but channel their pain into power for the common good. Their souls swell with both the passion and compassion of those who have seen suffering and want to stop it."

I have been repeatedly asked by curious family and friends, "What are you doing next?" I have had an incredibly hard time answering that question. And while I do have a number of options I am considering, I find it helpful to attain some "stillness" in all the chaos and demands of the world, to think about why and how I even got this far. I think it's at least partially because I am a "wounded healer." I have a number of...let's just call them unfortunate experiences in life so far. The best "wounded healer" example I can give you deals with death. In 2007, my best friend Morgan was killed by a drunk driver. Until that point in my life I had never known that kind of despair and loss. I was frustrated and angry because the whole thing could have been avoided. From that day forward, I believed in prevention. Not only did I believe in it, I advocated for it. As the quote also states, I did many presentations and media interviews in the midst of controversy and criticism. Believe it or not, there are individuals out there who don't feel there is "anything wrong" with booze cruising or driving after drinking/while intoxicated.

I liked the last line of the quote the best: "their souls swell with both the passion and compassion of those who have seen suffering and want to stop it." Everyone you meet is afraid of something, has lost something, and loves something, right? I think we all also have something that excites us. I am genuinely eager to help others, to relate to others, to grow myself, solve problems, seek resources, create change, end suffering, and the list goes on.

After spending a summer in DC and listening to many backgrounds of influential leaders, one of the most valuable pieces of wisdom left behind was that it's very rare for a person to have a direct path to the "perfect" job. By choice or not, life is messy, complicated, and things change. I noticed that each person had an element of their passion that remained constant through every job and every opportunity. Based on that discovery, I think, as I begin applying for things I should not be asking "Do I fit this description?" but rather "Does this description fit me and does this (job/university/program) allow me to insert elements of my passion?"

The article states though, "successful leaders must move beyond passion. In regularly tapping the realms of social strategy, political will and interpersonal skill, these individuals must also develop sophisticated, tactical leadership techniques that extend beyond running any single organization."

I cannot tell you what I will be doing this time next year. I can't even tell you in which city, state, or country I will be in. All I know is that as long as I keep working on building my skill set, following my heart and head...where ever I am will be right where I am supposed to be. Though struggling a bit to develop a concrete plan, I am eager to watch my life unfold!