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Nasly Roa Noriega (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

Loving what you do is the best attitude. Smiling at tiredness and lending a hand to those who need it is the best food for the soul. For my two little angels who are now taking care of me: my grandmother Gilma and my mother-in-law Amelia.

Caring is an act of dedication. It is synonymous with love and responsibility.  It is an important mission in a person’s life, regardless of the condition to which they have to dedicate their life.

Sometimes I think that we are a kind of protective being, because since childhood we are taught to take care of what we have or what we receive, to value things no matter how small they are.

Over time the word “care” takes a little more responsibility, and when we are parents that degree of responsibility becomes greater, since we must not only take care of ourselves, but also someone else who demands our attention. Although fatigue can break our strength, we will never stop caring, because as parents it is our life mission.

For me, caregiving is a beautiful mission: it is giving, without measure, a big part of your life to watch over someone’s every step. It is an unimaginable routine that for some is exhausting, but for others, as in my case, is a great job.

Taking care of someone, be they a child, parent, grandparent, partner or any other person, demands a lot from each one of us. It tends to exhaust us many times over, it tends to take away our appetite when they get sick and we do not know what to do. But we are there for them, exceeding our free time and our hours of rest, because no matter how many hours we dedicate, it will always be a great challenge, a job and a commitment that has rewards in many emotional aspects.

I have dedicated my life to care; to watch over the welfare of others; to smile every time fatigue embraces me tightly; to enjoy with emotion the first steps of my children, whom I still take care of in their adolescence;  to not let go of the hands of those who trust me; to enter into the silent gaze of those who have entered old age and only want a little company; to listen silently to the amazing stories of those with slow steps and ashen hair whom I have had to care for. Because caring should not be a prison, as some think. Perhaps they feel that they must enslave their life, their time and work to the care of someone.

When you care for someone, you must love what you do, and this should not be considered a prison, to be, day and night, watching their existence. You are not doing anything wrong. Maybe it feels that you have stagnated, that your priorities have moved to a secondary priority, where you have to accommodate your responsibility and your friendships have drifted away, or in the worst case, where you feel that loneliness is your greatest company. But it is not so. Destiny and time will show you what to do and how to do it, especially when you start to love what you do and realize that you enjoy doing it, when you feel that time flies by so quickly that you do not even notice it. Everything is focused on loving, that is the key to not giving up.

It should be love and passion for what we do that makes us get up every morning to take care of ourselves and others. When we have to take someone by the hand, we should do it with such firmness that we transmit tranquility and security, every time we look into the eyes of someone we care for we should make them feel self-confident.

Let us avoid letting the feelings of frustration, tiredness and sadness be reflected in our faces and attitudes, because they can transmit to that people we care for, who, although seemingly silent, still with distant looks know the depths of our hearts. This can make them feel awkward, sad and overwhelmed by having to be cared for.

For nine years I watched my husband take care of his ailing mother with such dedication and devotion that I never heard a complaint and never saw his exhausted face. He was always there for her and for us, and she was always smiling and so full of life until her last day in our lives. He never felt imprisoned by her illness, never let go of her hand and never stopped loving her.

We are all born with a mission, with a destiny, with a duty. Not everyone is born with the gift of caring, but when you start this work, every day you learn to love what you do.

There are special people who need to be cared for, who need to be listened to, who need to laugh again, who need a hug or a firm hand to reassure them, and we must be there with the willingness and desire to do so.

Caring is the work of those brave-hearted people who decide to create in their lives an unbounded dedication to make the lives of others a special gift.

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My name is Nasly Roa Noriega. I am a quiet person and I find peace of mind through silence. Every day of my life is a thanksgiving to God and every awakening is a day of celebration.