Be More Assertive!

From the first day of nursing school, this is what they taught us. Nurses have to be assertive. At first I was like, "what the hell are they talking about? I don't want to be aggressive..." It turns out that that's not even what they meant. I think what they mean is that they want us to stand up for what we think is right; not be demanding, but to have principles.

However, I don't want to generalize,but I think it's an Asian thing when it comes to not being assertive enough. When I was younger, I remember that arguments between my parents and myself never ended well. Whenever I say something that disagreed with them, they would say, "you're disrespectful!" (and sometimes "go back to your room!"). And then we shut up and let it go. We (well "I", I guess) were taught be passive and never argue with someone who we believe is in authority.

I haven't blogging much lately because we need to write reflection journal entries for our clinicals at the hospital. Obviously we're not allowed to post those, but it's not like they're of anything interesting to read anyway.