Sound of Surviving Blog

It’s funny how doing something that you started out doing just to gain experience can end up changing your whole perspective on just about everything. I volunteer at a pediatric healthcare facility, a facility where pediatric patients with medical conditions that are unmanageable at home, live. I wanted to volunteer there to gain experience working with pediatric patients. I volunteer here two days a week currently. Coming to this place and volunteering is one of my favorite things. Almost all of the patients I volunteer with here cannot walk or talk, yet, their expressions of joy touch my heart so deeply. I love coming into the classrooms I volunteer in and seeing these patients get the biggest smiles on their faces because they’re so excited to do the crafts I bring in. I love seeing their faces light up the entire room and hearing their shrieks of joy as myself and the staff at the facility tell them what an amazing job they are doing. These patients give me so much more than just experience; they allow me to see what true courage and love really look like. These children and adolescents go through so much, physically, mentally, and emotionally. This life is all they know. But never once do they complain or get upset about it. They choose to keep pushing forward. They love the staff and those around them unconditionally, and in between getting feed changes or medications, they choose to love the life they have, to embrace the opportunities that they have to have a good time. These children and adolescents have taught me more about living life to its fullest than any blogger or YouTuber on social media could. I started volunteering here for the experience and passion for working with pediatric patients, but I don’t know that I ever expected that the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to be grateful for what you have, no matter what it may look like to others on the outside. I have of course, learned from one of the patients there, that everything looks better if you just bedazzle it a little bit. 🙂