It’s International Nurses’ Day, and it feels bittersweet this week to celebrate this profession that we deeply love and deeply wrestle with, particularly at this moment in history.

So many of us find ourselves asking, “Why am I still here in nursing?” I ask myself that more than ever – not because I have any plans to leave, but because I have to keep digging deep to remember why I do at my core still want to stay.

I had the privilege of giving the Commencement Speech to my fellow classmates when we graduated from the UCLA School of Nursing MECN program as the Class of 2010. What did naive me say to myself and my newly minted classmates on this topic, “Remember Why You Are Here“?

I watched this back today, and realized with a much more sober spirit, greater understanding, and deeper gratitude, that I still hold to all of this. The value of mentors, community, one-another, and our own core convictions about the privilege we have to be nurses, even in light of all the challenges this profession currently faces.

Fellow nurses, and I speak this reminder to myself as well, remember why you are here.