Christi Nation
By Christi Nation
I teared up the other day because of receiving an unexpected gift from a student. It is a little plaque that is titled Difference Maker with the definition on it.
Over the past two years, I have dealt with breast cancer, a mastectomy, Stage 3 thyroid cancer, a thyroidectomy, losing most of voice due to cancer spreading to a nerve controlling my right vocal cord, getting most of my voice back from a vocal cord injection, cancer coming back in my lymph node six months later, and presently going through image-guided radiation. I travel to UAMS five days a week for seven weeks for 33 treatments in all.
That gift came after day 12 of being bolted down to a table in a radiation mask.
Because of my illness, I have not met my personal standard of what it means to be effective or make a difference as a Career Coach. I do what I can. In my mind, that’s not good enough. That gift from my student came at exactly the right time. It filled my sails again. Even if you don’t think you are doing your best, someone else is watching and being affected by what you can do.
Until next time, here are your Happiness Actions:
- Do what you can even if you think it is miniscule. It makes a difference to someone.
- When things are hard, take one tiny step. You never know who is watching. You never know how they are affected by how you handle hardship.
Christi Nation serves as Lead Career Coach for National Park College and is stationed at Cutter Morning Star High School. She is also the President of Nation Training & Development. Her greatest joy is teaching something cool she just learned. She is a breast cancer survivor and fighting her latest battle with Stage 3 thyroid cancer. She will win. If you would like inspiration and more happiness actions in your inbox, send a message to Christi.Nation@NationTD.com.
