Catching up with Karyn

My alarm clock didn’t go off. No hot water in the shower. I’d run out of coffee (gasp!). And to top it all off… my “fat pants” were feeling a bit snug—aaaaaauuuuggghhhhhh! This was shaping up to be a miserable morning, and my 12-hour shift hadn’t even begun!

I heard my phone chime and my heart skipped a beat. Had I gotten my times mixed up—was I late for work? I snatched my phone off the table and saw the text:

“I just wanted you remind you how amazing you are and how grateful I am that you’re in my life.”

My eyes got teary and my heart swelled. My sister, also a busy healthcare professional and three time zones away, had taken 30 seconds out of her busy schedule to share her gratitude. It changed the course of my entire day and reshaped my life.

Studies have shown that one way of increasing your happiness setpoint is to practice being grateful. Studies vary slightly in their findings, but in a nutshell, writing down...

Over the years my husband, Greg, and I have entertained one other with hours and hours and hours of stories of our childhoods—him as a little boy in upstate New York, and me as a little girl in the small river town of Hannibal, Missouri. Greg's recalls sledding down snowy hills on his Flexible Flyer steel-runner-sled, putting together model airplanes (and that unforgettable smell of airplane glue that left you dizzy), and of chasing his very first girlfriend—in kindergarten!  I bend his ear with stories of a young girl stomping in the Mississippi mud, sneaking into cow pastures to jump on cow pies, and playing with the one and only doll I ever loved—Chatty Cathy.

For those of you who've never seen a Chatty Cathy doll, she’s 18 inches tall with blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles, and has a “chatty ring” on her upper back that, that when pulled, allows her to speak. (I was taller and didn’t need someone to pull my “chatty...

Growing Up

My story begins with being a nurse. Growing up, I always wanted to follow in the footsteps of my mom and dad.  Both were medical professionals. I felt that helping other people was my calling – so you could say that nursing was always in the cards for me.

Within nursing, I’ve worked in the OR, ER, home health, hospice, and much more! (I know what you’re  thinking…”She couldn’t hold a job?”). It wasn’t that I felt more at home in one area than another; it was actually quite the opposite - each job was a great fit for me! I attributed this to one particular constant in my life: I LOVED learning. After mastering one skill, I was on to the next learning opportunity. This passion for knowledge eventually led me back to school to earn my master’s degree, where I discovered my true calling.

My Passion

I was knee-deep in research when I stumbled upon a small paragraph in a journal. It was about a nurse...