Your Dreams Will Find You When You Stop Running

I grew up wanting to be a teacher. However, the way society defines and compensates teaching doesn't work for me. Despite taking different paths, it still found me.

Surprisingly, I found the opportunity to teach in nursing. In fact, it's been my favorite part. I love educating patients, their caregivers, and practicing and aspiring clinicians. As a nursing student, I tutored the pre-nursing students at Loewenberg College of Nursing, University of Memphis. Not only did I make some lifelong friendships and give hope to people who really needed it, but I saw the limits of teaching. When you stand in front of a class, you have the power to touch 1000s of students' lives, like I did when the pre-nursing A&P class allowed 400 students to enroll and like many professors who teach for a living.

Lesson: You can touch 1000s of lives when you teach. You touch generations when you write.

Professors are cut from a different cloth. Answering emails and phone calls 24/7 twelve months a year. Helping students find preceptors even when the university delegates the responsibility to the student. My favorite professors were the ones who gave the struggling biology major a break after they saw her work hard, show up to every class, sit in front, ask questions, attend office hours, and go to every tutor session. All they asked was that she return the favor to someone else - and she did just that for the rest of her life. She would go on to be one of only two black students who graduated from the biology department that year. 

You Can't See the Whole Picture When You're Inside the Frame

When you move from being in the game to coaching from the sideline, you gain a competitive vantage point. You think playing the game is fun? We all do. Entrance exams. Lab check-offs. OSCEs. Boards. Certification. Licensure. Orientation. Residency. Fellowship. 12-hour shifts. Nights. Weekends. Holidays. On-call. Short staffed. Under-resourced. Rotating leadership. Unclear vision. Unmet expectations. Low morale. Bullying. Compassion fatigue. Ethical dilemmas. 

The game is fun for a while and, for some, a lifetime. Coaches actually have more fun than the players. But you know who's having the best time? The lady who built the stadium.

Nurse Dreams

I am delighted to introduce the first Mahogany Telederm Nurse Intern and welcome Jade Trevino to the Mahogany Dermatology Nursing | Education | Research team! Create the opportunities you seek. Nothing can stop you when you do that. Thank you, Jade, for believing anything is possible.

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Happy New Year!

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Kimberly Madison, DNP, AGPCNP-BC

I am a nurse practitioner entrepreneur who specializes in dermatology nursing education and research with an emphasis on skin of color. I created this blog to share my journey as a source of motivation and as a blueprint, as you embark on your journey. Most importantly, I’m looking forward to increasing access to dermatology education and clinical training for aspiring and practicing nurse practitioners. I invite you to view the mission and vision statement on the homepage to see how we can best partner to make our dreams align.

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