What Does Freedom Mean to You as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant?

I hope you celebrated July 4 with gusto and took a moment to reflect on what freedom means to you.

Some people, I’m convinced, have a gene for exploration and discovery. What else could explain why one person spends his life striving to stand on the peak of Mt. Everest while another is happy to sit in a hammock or lounge chair in their backyard?

When I was a young girl, my family couldn’t afford to travel but that didn’t stop me from becoming a world traveler in any possible way I could. I travelled through the eyes of beautiful glossy brochures to many countries. I wrote to every consulate of practically every country I could think of for information. I’d open our mailbox and that’s when the adventure would begin. Through the most amazing photos in those glossy publications I walked the Great Wall of China, trekked the Himalayas and tracked lions, wildebeest and elephants on the Serengeti.

Since then I’ve been blessed to travel the world and visit the Serengeti as well as many, but not yet all, of the other places that were once simple childhood fantasies. My real traveling didn’t start until I started working in the hospital as an RN. A colleague and I often chose our nursing continuing education based on location rather than the educational offerings. Critical care nursing principles suddenly became much more compelling in places like Hawaii, Puerto Rico and London than they ever would have been in Houston. We’d scrimp and save our pennies to make those trips. Later my legal nurse consulting education business took me to 49 states, enjoying the endless bounty and diversity the United States offers along the way. Tom went to most of those states with me, which made the experience all the better. Today our personal adventures have taken us to both polar regions as well as places like Cambodia, Morocco, Patagonia, Bhutan, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

Throughout my travels, I’ve visited countries where people enjoy freedom and, sadly, countries where freedom is denied. I’ve visited Communist countries where the “state” discourages regular people from talking to foreigners, countries where children are conscripted against their will into the military and countries where armed rebels roam free. I’ve been to so-called democracies where the governing party enforces its rule through killings, violence and other strong-arm tactics. Some of my favorite trips have been to countries where even the poorest farmers were some of the happiest people I’ve met, simply happy for their mud hut, cattle and the open spaces around them and a life without boundaries (or too many belongings).

Whenever I travel, no matter where I go, what I see or how much fun I have, I am extremely grateful and proud to be a citizen of my beloved United States of America. I’m proud to have the freedom that we so often take for granted and I’m especially glad to hear the U.S. Customs official tell me “welcome home” because I know I am back in the land of the free, and not just the land of big salads and iced tea.

Let’s face it though, freedom for most of us goes way beyond our ability to live where we choose, work a job we select, be able to vote and trust the government not to unjustly imprison or prosecute us. With that in mind, I invite you to join me in celebrating the freedom we all enjoy as Americans and especially as Certified Legal Nurse Consultants.

I’ll get the list started and invite all of you to go ahead and add to it.

Freedom to:

Say “no” – I was fired once for justifiably saying no. That was one of the best days of my life because it was on that day that I vowed no boss would ever get that chance again. Now I’m the boss and I’m the only one that can fire me.
Change directions – I’m a Pisces so I thrive on change. I like to navigate all types of waters which I’ve been challenged to do owning my own business. When I do, it’s often my choice and my responsibility – that makes the change so much sweeter.
Express opinions without fear of recrimination – I was always the nurse at the hospital getting in trouble for saying what every other nurse was thinking (and wouldn’t say at a staff meeting even though they all promised to stand up too). One of my favorite staffers was just like me. I always valued her courage to tell me what I might not have wanted to hear.

Now, it’s your turn to share your stories regarding the CLNC® freedoms below: