The Best Part of my Job Was Never the Job

There is something about this photo that makes me smile.

Not because we all looked nice in our scrubs. Not because we finally found a few quiet minutes in the middle of another busy day.

But because this photo reminds me that every shift and every long day, these people became part of my life without asking for permission.

I never expected that somewhere in between, these familiar faces would become my friends. And these friends, would eventually become people I would struggle to leave behind.

Funny, isn't it?

Nobody tells you that one of the hardest parts of working abroad is not the workload. 

It's the people.

Because one day you'll wake up realizing you've memorized their abilities and personalities. You know who smiles even when they're exhausted. You know who says "I'm OK" when they're clearly not. You know who needs silence after a difficult patient, and who copes by making everyone laugh.

And I began carrying these little pieces of each other without even noticing.

I don't think people realize how much nurses rely on one another.

Patients often see one nurse.

What they don't see is the team standing quietly behind that nurse.

The one you thought was angry, when in reality, that's just the way she naturally speaks.

The one who notices you've skipped lunch and secretly saves you food.

The one who says "I've got this", when they see you're already overwhelmed. 

And the one who makes a terrible joke at exactly the right moment just to stop everyone from drowning in stress.

These things never appear in job descriptions, yet somehow, they're the things that matter most. 

Looking back, I honestly don't remember every difficult shift ever since I came here. The stress faded. Even the problems that once felt impossible eventually disappeared.

But the laughter?

I definitely remember that.

The random conversations while waiting for a patient. 

The teasing.

The birthday surprises.

 The photos taken in between responsibilities, or the moments when we laughed so hard we forgot how tired we were. 

Sometimes, I wonder if that's how God gently takes care of us. He doesn't always remove the difficult days. Instead, He places the right people beside us to help carry them.

Maybe that's why I believe the greatest blessings don't always arrive wrapped in miracles, but sometimes they arrive wearing blue scrubs.

And if there's one thing this journey has taught me, it's this:

People are temporary.

Shifts end.

Contracts expire.

Clinics or Hospitals change.

Countries change.

Life moves on.

But kindness has a strange way of outliving every goodbye. 

So if any of you are reading this...

Thank you.

Thank you for every laugh, every encouraging word, every shared burden, every silent prayer, and every ordinary moment that quietly became one of my favourite memories.

Because if people ask me what the best part of my job was...

It was never the job.

It was you.💖

And as I looked at this photo, I realized something. We weren't celebrating anything special. There was no grand occasion. It was just another ordinary day at work. And maybe that's what makes it so precious. 

I'm grateful that for a little while, God allowed our paths to cross. Thank you for becoming part of my story. I hope, somehow, I became a small and happy chapter in yours too.

Goodnight.🌻