Few would have guessed I was a reflective person when I was young. I grew up in a trailer without running water in the Colorado mountains. School was the antithesis to what I considered freedom. When I willfully paid no attention in class, I found myself accused of Attention Deficit Disorder. Later, I spent time in a juvenile detention center and dropped out of high school. By fifteen, I was on my own.Strangely, this path led to personal reflection. I soon learned that life is a challenge not to be taken lightly. I became a firefighter, then transitioned into being a paramedic after I broke my back. My injury, as well as my career in emergency medicine, reinforced and refined what I had learned early on. There is much fragility in life and in a breath, it’s over. Being a paramedic taught me the value of every breath and inspired me to see the world.
