This morning, I passed someone in the hall who usually wears street clothes and she had on scrubs. I said “Oh, look at you, you are a nurse today.” Guess what, she is a nurse every day. It made me think about how we are perceived by what we present just with our uniform for the day.

It’s interesting how our perception of someone or something changes by what we see on the outside. What one covers things up with is what we see and on what we base our first impressions.

Ever feel like you are taken more seriously when someone can tell you are in charge by what you have on? More fun? More intelligent? More caring?

Ever change your hair, your clothes, your attitude, your opinions, just to fit in or not cause a fuss? I once colored my hair for a whole season to be taken more seriously. I am a natural blonde with a high IQ and strong work ethic, yet I felt like I wasn’t taken seriously. For an entire year I had auburn/brown hair and serious conversations with doctors.

How often do we change our outward to match our inward? Or do we change our outside to mask our inside.

Are you someone YOU believe in? You should be. You are uniquely made. Your super power is that you are you. In today’s high pressure, fast paced, keep up with the boys’ world, It’s hard to believe in your you-ness. Fitting in, dressing the part, not making mistakes because they are watching, makes the world of nursing feel like the world in general. In a job that is primarily female we are still held to a societal measuring stick that very few of us can measure up to.

So we quite literally dress the part. We present our outside self as the one we hope people will accept. Like a paper doll. We change our paper clothes to change who we are.

The mood for women, in this country, is heavy. That can go either way. You can say “the heck with it” and burn down the building (hypothetically, of course) or you can say “the heck with it” and give in and give up. Do what is expected of you, keep your mouth shut, wear the uniform and look/be the part. You may feel and act like you are just the sum of your mistakes. You aren’t. They are but a part of you. You don’t have to hide the parts of you that ache.

You can be a nurse, caring for the sick and helping people heal and still feel very strongly that a woman should be able to have an abortion legally. You can be a nurse that works in an office, never taking care of someone and still be enraged at the unsafe practices of hospitals today. Of course, nursing is what you do, it’s not who you are. You are the thoughts, feelings, opinions, attitudes, blood and guts that make up the frame holding up the clothes you are wearing.

Playing paper dolls is fun. As long as it isn’t real life. I’m not saying you should wear leggings everywhere, (please don’t), because that represents who you really are and you are in touch with that girl and you are letting her shine. What I am saying is maybe we, as women, not just female nurses, need to be aware when we are covering up our true selves, shutting down our gut feelings and intuitions because it is easier. Become aware of when you do and say and wear something that is not true to you., that is only pleasing to those in control.

I’m not saying burn the building down; I’m just saying maybe rip up the paper doll.

Let me know what you are thinking.