Authenticity

Debby Hamolsky is a nurse where I work, and each year she gives a talk on Breast Cancer Care for the new premedical intern group. Even though I am not a new intern, I remember how much her talk moved me last year so I decided to attend it again this year. I am so thankful I did. She gave a wonderful talk detailing all that a woman diagnosed with breast cancer must struggle with and go through.

Debby is a really amazing person. It’s not that she’s super smart or super motivated, or super anything really when I think about it. What really impresses me and inspires me about Debby is her authenticity. Debby is the most authentic, whole-hearted person I have ever had the chance to know.

It’s interesting that this quality of authenticity strikes me as amazing. Should it really be considered amazing? Is it really that difficult to be authentic? Has it always been this difficult to be authentic? To not get caught up in so many of the parts of life that we force ourselves to comply with, like looking the best, or feeling like we are the best, or thinking that other people aren’t the best? Trying to fit in and be liked by everyone? Am I the only person confronted with these feelings? In honesty, I don’t think that Debby should be considered amazing, I wish that more people had the characteristic of authenticity as she possess, so that Debby would be considered normal, instead of amazing. To me, being authentic, true to yourself and your values is what we should all be striving for.

I feel like so many of us don’t take the time to really think about what our values are, who we want to be, what we want to do. Not "do" as in right this moment, but "do" as a lifetime pursuit. I don’t mean to imply that to be authentic you must be helping others either, this is what Debby does as a nurse, but she does it because she really loves it and really values its impact, which is more important.