My 2021 New Year’s Resolutions

Every year, I come up with a few new year’s resolutions. Below are three resolutions I’ve made for myself for 2021.

Empathy first

Over the years I’ve become a lot more empathetic. I’ve worked hard on it. Now I want empathy to be my first reaction and not a follow-on thought. I’ll still be critical but I want to start with the “why” earlier in my understandings of peoples’ behaviors.

Share and engage more

I used to share a lot more of myself and engaged with others more often on social media. I let a few individuals live rent free in my head for quite a few years. I’ve also seen a few accidental likes on my timeline that shows I’ve probably been living rent free in other people’s heads as well. Time to completely move on and share more of what I learn and experience more without worry of destructive criticism. I think I have a lot to share publicly and I remember finding it to be very fun.

Keep driving forward

This resolution isn’t so much a change in my current behavior, but instead, it is a continuation of my behavior for the last 4 years. If 2020 has taught me anything it is that the mission of Nurse-1–1 is needed more now than ever before. Our healthcare system is less of a “system” and more of a mixed bag of stuff thrown together. It is confusing to everyone in the industry (even the top experts don’t know how it all works) and it is even more confusing for the patients who are left to navigate it. Digitalization of healthcare hasn’t really happened yet and the current healthcare infrastructure is in rubbles due to the coronavirus. A new digitized healthcare system is in the works to replace it. The new digitalized healthcare system is starting with online pescriptions and at home testing services. Soon those already emerging platforms will expand to all aspects of healthcare. Our job, at Nurse-1–1, will be to help patients navigate it by embedding empathy and compassion that only healthcare providers like nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and other humans can provide. 2021 and beyond will require a lot of heavy lifting as we rebuild our shattered healthcare “system” and create a new simpler and compassionate healthcare experience for patients. This will only happen if we keep driving forward on our mission.