Discover Your Passion, Release Your Power

By Johnny Cavazos

75 million people in this country, or half of the working population, would change jobs or careers in a heartbeat if given the choice. Are you one of them?
Why are we so unhappy in our work lives? Do you feel like you are just trying to survive the daily grind during the week, just so you can get to the weekend? Is it hard for you just getting out of bed so you can get to a job that seems like sheer drudgery? How do we find the spark that seems to be missing in our lives?

We all want more energy and want to be excited about our jobs and the things we are spending time and energy on, but yet it seems clear that there is a pervasive lack of enthusiasm, drive or energy in the people around us at home and in our jobs. People seem to be going about their lives unplugged and unengaged in the spiritual power and unique energy given to each and every one of us. Power and energy lie within our unique, God given passion.

In the second book of the Authentic Self series, Discover Your Passion, Release Your Power, Dr Cavazos guides us onto the next leg of this exciting journey forward to our Authentic Self. One critical aspect of this path towards discovery and fulfillment is the absolute requirement of finding and releasing the power of passion. In this book, you will:

1. Identify the essentials of your unique passion
2. Unlock the power of self-motivation
3. Uncover your own personal drive to thrive
4. Begin to use focus and determination to reach critical goals
5 Harness the skills of goal management for well-being, joy and fulfillment
6. Find the value, protection and guidance that passion and purpose bring
7. Learn why millions of people abandon New Years resolutions within 6 weeks
8. Discover the 18 sources of physical and spiritual power available to each and every one of us
Drawing examples from inspiring leaders and people who have been successful in business, music, science, sports and the arts, Dr. Cavazos will help you examine your own life and experiences to enlighten you on this captivating and invigorating trek to releasing the spiritual and physical power that is bubbling within you, waiting to be released and unleashed.

If you truly believe that you have a unique God given purpose, but you are having a tough time finding that purpose or the energy or drive to fulfill that purpose, then this is the book for you. There is an exciting, empowering and spell binding adventure waiting for you that will bring peace, joy and a sense of fulfillment and well-being that you had no idea even existed. Discover Your Passion. Release Your Power. You won't regret it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Johnny Cavazos
• Release date: Jul 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781733821353

Johnny Cavazos

About Johnny Cavazos MDJohnny Cavazos is a practicing emergency room physician with over thirty years of experience. Experience matters.Johnny actually started working in emergency rooms as a senior in high school at the age of seventeen. The ER is an amalgam of fascinating experiences that run the gamut of life. These experiences provided a fertile background for growth and understanding that transcended the normal daily routine case load in the ER.Because of a series of untoward stumbles and failures, Johnny landed in a world of stress, anxiety and frustration. This lead to a decade of discovery. A ten year journey of spiritual growth, enlightenment, and clarity. The result ? Four books. The Authentic Self Series.As he was working through these trials and troubles, he began studying the bible and at the exact same time was introduced to the phenomenon of NDEs. Near death experiences. That lead to a ten year focus on bible study, the Christian faith and the science and spiritual insight provided by NDEs.You can visit Johnny's website at www.bravethewave.org.You can download a free PDF file "The Top Head to Toe Symptoms That Make Your Doctor Nervous". Thirty years of experience brings some valuable nuggets that can be useful to you and your family.WHY I WRITEWhen it comes to writing, I had no desire to be a writer. There came a point in all this studying and journaling when I came to the conclusion, "If I don't write all these ideas and experiences down, my head is going to explode". Not only that, my family and friends were sick of hearing me talk about all these ideas and spiritual experiences.It became a "can't not" decision. That idea is in my second book on passion and purpose. When there's something that you "can't not" do, pay attention. Honestly most of my writing is the response to a series of questions. Many, many questions. I would venture to say that I 'm not the smartest guy in the room at a cocktail party, but I bet I'm one of the most curious.Some of the most compelling questions have to do with passion, power, purpose and pain. The big Ps. I discuss passion, purpose and power in my second book and pain in my third.My first book, 'Brave The Wave', focuses on the Authentic Self and how we can move closer to the idea or the blueprint that God had in mind when he created us. True authenticity. Not the "best version" or a "better version" of our individual selves because those bring something into the equation that tends to take us in the wrong direction. Our own personal idea or image that we create for ourselves. We could also be focused on an image that other people created for us.I believe the" Authentic Self" is an ideal. It's objective. It's who God has in mind. Some people will say "that's easy. God wants us to be like Jesus. That's it." That is a great starting point and we know that there is zero downside to emulating Jesus. But we are endowed with talents, experiences, passions and gifts that are distinct and unique. Unique to each and every one of us.Engaging all of these while striving to grow in our relationship with Jesus is the key to reaching our "Authentic Self". The self we were created to be.Along the way, we are going to have trials, troubles, obstacles and waves.Hence, "Brave The Wave".

Book preview

A screenshot of a cell phone Description automatically generated

Discover Your Passion, Release Your Power: How to Fulfill Your Purpose in the Power of the Authentic Self by Johnny Cavazos

Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV

Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked CEB taken from the Common English Bible®, CEB® Copyright © 2010, 2011 by Common English Bible.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The CEB and Common English Bible trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Common English Bible. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Common English Bible.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.

Scripture marked NCV taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Discover Your Passion, Release Your Power: How to Fulfill Your Purpose in the Power of the Authentic Self by Johnny Cavazos

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN (paperback): 978-1-7338213-4-6

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-7338213-3-9

Table of Contents

Title Page

Introduction

1. Where Is the Power?

2. The Fingerprint of Passion

3. Truth & Authenticity

4. Misguided Passion

5. A Standard of Truth

6. Purposefully Passionate

7. I Was Born to Be a...

8. Whose Plan Is This Anyway?

9. The Allure of Belonging

10. The Elements of Passion

11. The Drive to Thrive

12. Motivate Thine Self

13. God’s Mind, Our Treasure

14. The Continuum of Love, Power, and Passion

15. The Power Within Us

16. Tapping the Power Within

17. The Path to Your Unique Passion

18. Fear and the Blanket of Comfort

19. The Artist Within

20. The Power of the Word

21. Identification of the False Self

22. Passion, Power, Purpose

23. Purpose Is Protective

24. Work Never Wasted

25. Taking Inventory

Epilogue

Introduction

Have you noticed there seems to be a pervasive lack of energy in our society? Why do we all seem to be so tired? Why is there so much job dissatisfaction? Do you have boundless energy? Or is it a chore to get up and go to work every day? If we examine our own families, some of our family members always seem to be busy working on a project or activity, while others seem to be sitting around listless. Are all successful people born with tons of energy? It stands to reason that successful people don’t always feel like getting up early and going to work every day.

We can’t all feel full of energy and excited about getting up and going about our daily lives. Something else must come into play. In my last book, Brave the Wave, I emphasized spiritual experiences and getting in touch with the spiritual side of who we are because it brings us closer to our authentic selves. This is the supernatural aspect of who we are. A distinction can be made between our physical, or natural, selves and our spiritual selves.

When we speak about the physical powerplant of the human body, the liver is known as the furnace or powerhouse; it is our source for physical energy. The liver is responsible for releasing stored carbohydrates, and it oxidizes fatty acids when they are needed to get the body going.

But where do we get spiritual energy? One source of spiritual energy is passion.

What is your passion? Do you get excited about anything you are involved in? Do you have infectious enthusiasm? Where does your passion lie? How much time are you devoting to your unique passion? Those were some of the questions I asked a group of friends just out of curiosity. Being taken aback by their answers was the impetus for this book. Two questions kept coming up in my mind:

How many people are walking around with no clue as to what their unique passion is?

How many people think that discovering or developing their passion is irrelevant to what they are doing in their lives?

Those two questions stuck in my head. It was the pebble—the boulder, rather—in the shoe. In other words, it never goes away.

When I asked each of my friends what their passion was, the responses were something along the lines of I’m too busy working or I’m too busy being a mom or I can’t worry about my passion. That’s a luxury. I’m just trying to survive. But is it?

What do you think about your own unique passion? Do you think having a passion is important for what you are trying to accomplish in this life—assuming you are trying to accomplish anything?

From my own experience, I’d argue that ignoring our passion is a mistake—a mistake that will have a direct impact on the quality of our lives on this earth. Ignoring our passion could be something we will regret in this life and the next.

This book is about helping you discover your own unique passion. Discovering our passion is critical to reaching our authentic selves because it’s a crucial source of spiritual energy. Passion brings energy and power. When we talk about discovering and developing our authentic selves, discovering our passion and pursuing our purpose are both integral to the process. If you’re interested in energy, power, passion and purpose, then this is the book for you.

There’s not a lot of research out there regarding our unique passion, but there is some science to help us identify it. Passions come in two varieties: harmonious and obsessive. Making the distinction between harmonious and obsessive passions is where the action is because of the impact they have on our relationships. We are definitely interested in action.

Looking closely at the difference between these two types of passion can be helpful in examining our own lives and can assist us in deciphering which passions we are currently engaging in. Are you engaged in any activity that involves your unique passion?

Passion is defined as a strong inclination toward a self-defining activity that one likes (or even loves) and finds important and in which one invests time and energy on a regular basis. Passion is something we engage in regularly. It is a source of energy. In the pages to follow we will get into the multiple sources of power and energy we can draw on when discovering our passion and purpose.

When we are going over these ideas, it’s helpful to look at people who have been successful in their lives pursuing and developing their own passion and purpose, such as musicians, artists, businesspeople, writers, and athletes, to name a few. As we look at other people and how they came to realize and develop their passions, it’s possible they didn’t even think about these ideas. It’s kind of like when you hear people say, I just do what I do. The problem arises when we don’t do what we do. In other words, we don’t feel fulfilled or satisfied with the activities we’re involved in.

If we take the time to observe our surroundings, it becomes obvious that a lack of enthusiasm or energy seems to be prevalent. Just walk through an airport or go to a restaurant or grocery store. It’s everywhere. We’re not satisfied in our daily lives, and we aren’t happy with our careers or jobs. Most people aren’t content in their jobs, as one survey recently reported:¹

It is not uncommon for working adults to consider one or multiple career changes, Dr. Bill Pepicello, the president of the University of Phoenix, said in a statement announcing the results.... Nearly 80 percent of workers in their 20s said they wanted to change careers, followed by 64 percent of 30-somethings and 54 percent in their 40s. Although the majority of workers said they had career plans when they were younger, 73 percent of them had not landed in the job they had expected."

If you feel tired and unfulfilled, it may be reasonable to consider the value you place on passion and purpose. Ask yourself, Am I pursuing my passion or my purpose in this life? Could I be missing out on all the benefits that come from living a life in the power of my passion as I pursue my purpose?

Purpose is useful because it brings two very important benefits that help us survive in a broken, fallen world: power and protection. Purpose protects.

We should also be instilling these ideas into our children because of the value they bring regarding a sense of power and well-being. We will get to these ideas in the coming chapters.

If you are interested in finding the answers to the above questions, this book will help guide you on the road to discovering your passion. Once you begin to engage in that passion, you will have access to power. Once you have tapped into that power, this will help fuel the discovery and development of your purpose. We all have a purpose. If you can believe that, we’re in business.

From my own experience, the desire to find purpose and passion came from an uneasiness or an unsettled feeling. I had a sense of anxiety, a feeling of being uncomfortable, an emptiness, a hunger. I sensed there was something more to this life than just survival and distraction. If we reflect on our own lives, we can see that much of our time is consumed by those two activities: survival and distraction. So, this yearning came from within. It became clear to me that I was created for something more.

What I began to realize is that this hunger comes from our spirits, our spiritual selves, the self that we were created to be. This is the self that lines up with the blueprint or architectural plans God had in mind when he created us. When we pay attention to those types of cues, we are on our way. Those yearnings or desires are there for a reason. If you have that spiritual hunger or yearning, congratulations, you are on the right path to a sense of well-being and joy.

Exploration, adventure, and discovery add excitement, interest, and fulfillment to our lives. Being open to new ideas and new experiences leads to greater vision, clarity, power, and energy. When we gain these attributes, it is much easier to recognize our purpose. Fulfilling our purpose brings love, joy and peace. When we readily identify the value of these pursuits, we can be confident that we aren’t wasting time, effort, or energy.

As we examine these ideas, it will become apparent that passion and purpose are linked. They are intertwined like a rope. Passion is the engine that drives the boat, and purpose is the compass that we need to get us to the destination. We need both.

Getting closer to our authentic selves will help us in this process of discovery and development of purpose. Discarding ideas or principles that yield no value and are inconsistent with our unique authentic selves is part of the process. If you are asking yourself, Can I do better? or Can I be better? then we are headed in the right direction. It is pursuing the idea that we were created for more.

True spiritual authenticity yields love, joy, peace, and fulfillment. When you get closer to true spiritual authenticity, you benefit, and everyone around you benefits.

Imagine being lost at sea in a rubber dinghy with only a small engine and a compass. Will a big screen television help you get to safety and civilization? What about a recliner? Sometimes we focus on empty or shallow pursuits and passions that are inconsistent with our authentic self, the self we were created to be. These kinds of pursuits are not only a waste of time and energy, they suck the life, joy, and peace out of our day-to-day lives. They’re part of the problem, not part of the solution. It’s hard to paddle a small dinghy forward with a big recliner and a sixty-inch television in the raft. We need to get rid of some of that extra baggage on this trip.

We’re after power, energy, passion, and purpose. As we begin to spend time and energy working toward these, we will begin to discover joy, fulfillment, and peace—and most importantly, love. These will spill over into our family lives and into the relationships with the people who are closest to us, the people we love the most.

These are the first steps on a unique and exciting adventure. Let’s roll.

---

¹ Reuters, Poll Finds 80 Percent of Workers In Their 20s Want To Change Careers, Huffpost, updated August 31, 2013, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/workers-change-careers_n_3530346.html.

1

Where Is the Power?

Be fearless in the pursuit of whatever sets your soul afire.

– Jennifer Lee

LIKE MOST GREAT STORIES, this one started in a smoky bowling alley. It was a Saturday night, and a group of friends and I were at a place called Rockin’ Bowl, where there was bowling in a dark nightclub-like atmosphere. There was rock music blasting over a large PA system, cheap pitchers of beer, and mostly teens and twenty-somethings. Everyone was having a good time, but I kept getting distracted by a group of fifteen to sixteen-year-old boys next to us who were effortlessly bowling strikes. Being in a group of couples, I was showing off by using brute strength to power my ball down the lane, hitting the pins as hard as possible. Pins were flying with plenty of noise, but that was about it. Strikes were rare. Meanwhile, these teenagers were rolling the ball in unusual ways to get spin and curve on the ball, and they were consistently knocking down all the pins.

Being somewhat competitive, I did my best to get spin and a curve on my ball. While trying to catch myself from falling flat on my face, I injured my wrist. Then I asked myself, How the heck do you get a curve on your ball when bowling?

When it comes to questions that pop into my head, this one was not that important. But it helped me to see that if you look at questions that are not really that important and you have an attitude of curiosity, and a relentless drive to answer questions, there is much to learn. Tony Robbins said, Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. Bowling a curve means nothing in the grand scheme of things. But asking questions about passion and purpose have brought value and understanding to my life that I want to share. The drive and desire to answer questions about passion and purpose have had an impact and influence on my way of thinking. My drive to understand our own behavior and what motivates us pushed me to ask many questions and seek answers. From my own experience seeing thousands of patients, I’ve witnessed firsthand that many people go about their lives in misery and with no excitement or enthusiasm. I was there too. Once I discovered my passion while moving towards fulfilling my purpose, that is when things changed for me. This discovery process was the entire impetus for this book.

The questions I want to answer in this book are:

Why are we so tired?

Why don’t we have energy?

Why do most of us not enjoy our work life?

Where do we find the energy we need to go about our lives?

Why do so few people feel like they are in their dream job?

We are going to talk about energy, pep, passion, and purpose in the coming chapters. The information and discussion ahead will give you plenty of ideas about where to start if seeking your own unique passion and purpose are meaningful to you. They are part of the supernatural power that comes from the discovery and development of our authentic selves.

A Simple Question

The whole premise of this book came about because of a simple question I asked my friends when we were at a sports bar having wings and watching a game: What is your passion? In other words, What are you excited about? What activity are you most enthusiastic about? What brings you great joy and fulfillment? By their silence and puzzled looks, you would have thought I asked them what the meaning of life was. If my few friends assembled here were in any way representative of the larger population, then significant segments of the population not only don’t know what their passion is but don’t even think about their passion.

A couple of my friends tried to come up with something on the fly: Uh, my kids. Yeah, my family; that’s what I’m most passionate about. Somebody else said, Look, I’m too busy working and trying to pay the bills to be worrying about my passion. Another said, Hey, anyone gonna eat that last wing? If not, I’ll take it.

This is what I want to go over in the chapters ahead: passion, power, energy, and purpose.

So back to the bowling story. To answer my curve question, I rented a video at Blockbuster Video on bowling—which gives you an idea of how long ago my learn to roll a curve quest began. The video featured Earl Anthony, a famous professional bowler. He went over the technique on how to roll a curve and, more importantly, where you want your ball to hit in the pocket that enables the pins to fall in a way more likely to result in a strike. With this information and a little practice, I was able to bowl a game in the low two-hundred range. (I have witnesses.) I’m sure I’ll never be able to do that again, but you have to admit, bowling a game in the low two-hundreds is not too shabby for an amateur. I grew up playing golf, and from my own experience, it would be impossible to shoot a round in the low seventies if you have never played golf before, even if you had the added advantage of watching a video by a professional and a few practice rounds under your belt. I don’t mean to offend you bowlers out there, but I believe that’s true.

Look around at all the things available to us to get us up and going—that triple latte in the morning or that can of soda to wake you up. Energy drinks or small bottles of caffeinated pick-me-ups sit at the counter of every convenience store. How many of us are excited when we wake up and are itching and raring to go to work?

One of the most common complaints I hear from patients is Doc, I just don’t have any energy at all. I feel weak and tired all the time. That should be on the medical record: Weak and Tired All the Time. I’ve mentioned WOTs (wastes of time) in my previous book, Brave the Wave, now its WATs—weak and tired. Are you part of the WATs? Why are we so tired all the time? Is it because of our jobs? Where can we find enthusiasm and energy?

Could it be stress? Are we more stressed than a family living on the Great Plains in the mid-1800s? They had to worry about not having enough food to eat or being attacked by wild animals, bandits, or hostile Indians. Think about trying to go to sleep in a small wooden shack and wondering if you were going to be attacked in the middle of the night. Shouldn’t we be feeling less stress in our modern times?

We all have periods of feeling weak and tired, which may be caused by certain circumstances. Yet most of us don’t have episodes of feeling weak and tired when we’re on vacation, even though we’re staying up late and getting up early most of the time. Could it have something to do with the kind of activity or work we are doing? Maybe we feel it’s repetitive, mundane, boring, and not very stimulating. So, how do we get power? How do we get energy? We need to break these ideas down into the physical and the spiritual.

What’s Driving You?

Let’s look at how we get physical energy. In physics, energy is defined as the amount of work that can be performed by force, and power is defined as the rate at which work is performed. The dictionary definition of energy is the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity.¹ We can see that we all need energy. Power is the rate at which we can perform sustained physical or mental activity. It is a measure of how long and how fast we can sustain this physical or mental activity.

Where do we get power? What is it that drives us? What motivates us to take on new challenges or projects? I believe that real power and energy come from our own unique God-given passion. The interesting point to make is that authentic passion that is at the core of our authentic self yields both physical and spiritual energy.

Imagine being on a rubber raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You are the only survivor after the ship you were on capsized in a storm. You have access to food rations and water. You have no motor, sail, or paddle, so you are just drifting at the mercy of the ocean currents and waves. You are without a compass, and you don’t know how to navigate by the stars—not that you could anyway. This could be a description of how you are living your life at this very moment, drifting without power, guidance, or direction.

But let’s suppose that you have a compass and you know the direction you need to be headed. But you have no sail or motor, no sustainable power or energy. You paddle a little bit, and you try to head in a particular direction, but you lose your drive or energy, so you give up. Or maybe you’re a dabbler—you paddle a little bit, then take a break. The definition of dabble is to take part in an activity in a casual or superficial way.² In fact, if you are stranded in a rubber dinghy on the ocean and you only dabble, you die. In the same way, if we don’t take our passion or our purpose seriously, we will dabble through life.

Now, what if we have a huge motor and plenty of power but no compass or rudder? We might start moving in one direction, but over time, we end up navigating in circles. What’s most interesting—or disturbing, depending on how you look at it—is that we may have no idea we are wasting time, energy or money. If the power, or energy, is unfocused and not leading us toward any one point, then not only is that power wasted, it leaves us prone to exhaustion and frustration.

Another way to look at this scenario is picturing ourselves in a four-wheel-drive truck. You have plenty of gas and a big engine. You floor the gas pedal, but you aren’t getting anywhere because you are in deep mud. You’re spinning your tires, but not only are you not going anywhere, you’re sinking deeper and deeper into the mud, spinning your wheels for the sake of spinning your wheels—lots of noise but no movement.

These examples make it clear that energy or passion are not very useful without purpose. Clearly, we need the power, but we also need guidance. We need the ability to steer and navigate. What people fail to realize is that they already have both. Passion lies within us, though it may be dormant. We already have a purpose that is programmed within us, we just haven’t discovered it, or we see no need. Most people who don’t see the value or need to discover their purpose will ignore it.

That’s why this book is about discovering our passion and finding our purpose. The question I posed to my friends made me realize that it’s very likely that many people aren’t interested in discovering their passion or finding their purpose. They are content to row in circles or spin their tires, sinking deeper into the mud.

The problem with ignoring your passion and purpose is that you may be missing out on the huge benefits that come from living a life consistent with your authentic self, the real and passionate you that God had in mind when he created you. When you begin to get closer to your authentic self, you can tap into that innate power already within you. It’s the self that you were created to be, and it’s in that authentic self where we find real power, valuable energy, and true fulfillment.

Do you know where you are headed right now? Are you confident that what you’re spending your time and effort on is worthwhile and has real value? We were born to ask questions and seek the answers to those questions. This leads us to find answers that we didn’t know we were even looking for. That leads to more questions, like Why did I find that out right now?

Someone may be saying, Yeah, this is all great, but I’m having a hard time just getting out of bed every morning. My job is drudgery. It’s like a prison sentence. I feel like I’m trapped. I have no control or power to change my situation. Hey, congratulations, you are a part of the majority. Join the crowd, and be comforted in the fact that you are not alone. A survey of American working adults showed that only 14 percent of U.S. workers believe they have the perfect job and more than half want to change careers.³ By some estimates, there are seventy five million people who would gladly change careers if given the opportunity. Are you one of those? Welcome to the club.

There are two popular sayings when you ask people the question, Hey, how are you doing? The first answer is Just livin’ the dream, man. Livin’ the dream. The other response I have been hearing lately is Living my best life, brother. I’m living my best life. Well, if we study the above survey, not many of us are livin’ the dream or living our best lives. If you are not enjoying your work life, it is hard to enjoy your life.

Change of Environment

When I got my first job as a newly trained physician, it was a very trying and difficult work environment. Going to work was a struggle. Most of my free time was spent reading books about retiring and investing so I could escape that job. I used to think to myself, Is this how it’s going to be for thirty or forty years? I’ll be honest—that place could only be described as a hell hole.

Being single and immature, I had a ritual when a friend of mine and I were going out to enjoy the night life. As we drove past my work, I would stick my head out and scream obscenities at it. It was a silly and childish thing to do, but I sure felt better afterward. You may be working in a similar place right now.

The work environment in this facility was challenging to deal with because the culture was one of indifference. From top to bottom, I worked with the most apathetic people I had ever been around, from registration clerks to nurses to techs to security and even to physicians. The only ones who were happy or greeted you with a smile were the ladies who volunteered in the gift shop. And something was a bit different about the people we treated. Maybe it was just me, but they seemed to have little appreciation for what we were doing for them. An air of rudeness, maybe even entitlement, penetrated the environment. I could never figure it out.

We all need some type of affirmation or acknowledgment of our efforts. When there is very little of that, a stressful work environment is made even more stressful. I’ve worked in seven or eight medical facilities before that one and seven or eight places since, and