TEDMED TALK

Jarvis, Debra. "Beyond surviving." Online video clip. TedMed, Oct. 2014. 5 Nov. 2014. 

Debra Jarvis begins her talk by asking: "If I were to meet you and we only had a limited time to get to know each other, what would be the three things you would tell me about yourself?" She goes on to list things such as Holocaust or cancer survivor. She then wonders out loud why we are all so fast to say things like this. 
Later in the talk Jarvis reveals that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. When she got the news people were clearly upset, but began to kind of label her as "having cancer". People asked how she would raise awareness of the disease, and eventually she began to feel like this diagnosis was taking over her life. 
She concludes the talk by stating that it is not the disease or the survival that you should be carrying around with you, but rather the experience. What have you learned? What will you now do with your life, other than being, just a survivor? 
She says that by letting the title of survivor claim you, you become trapped. You can not let this be your title forever. 
What will you do with your experience? 

My Thoughts: Jarvis brought up some really interesting points that I would not have really thought of before. Although she was mostly talking about cancer survivors, the idea can be applied to all aspects of life. Jarvis is encouraging people to move beyond their unfortunate experiences and to move on with life, become something else, do not hold this occurrence in your pocket all the time. How can this apply to my paper? Obviously I can agree with Jarvis because I want to be a nurse and will definitely encounter people who have lived (or are living) through difficult situations. I could be their TEDMED personal speaker and use the ideas of Jarvis to help patients move on with their lives; to move on from their troubles and focus on the future. What will they do now? Jarvis' ideas are positive and uplifting; the exact type of attitude a nurse needs to have when dealing with patients, and the exact kind of attitude I strive to have for myself every day. This video not only relates to my paper or my vocation, but also with my life and the type of person I want to be. 
Go Debra! 

Here's the link to the video in case you want to watch: 
http://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=293021&videoId=492826&ref=about-this-talk