Six Word Memoirs about Work

Backstory

My mom has been a nurse for a very long time. When I graduated from nursing school and got my first job, I called her in tears. "I am so afraid I'm going to screw up and kill somebody, I can barely breathe!" She listened to me sputter and gasp for a while and then said, "Fear is good. It makes you careful. I would worry if you were too casual or cocky." She said, "Even now, when I am driving to work, if I don't feel some fear in my belly, I know I should turn around and go back home because I'm not safe." At first my fear was so huge that I could scarcely move. Now, years have passed and experience and knowledge has replaced the abject terror in which I used to live. Experience has also taught me to respect the gravity of caring for the sickest patients. I feel fear stirring in my gut every time I walk into the ICU to start my shift. I greet it like an old friend and I feel grateful for my mom's wisdom.