Written by Beth Allison Pearson
From the rooms where rules of law are written to the rooms where lives are held in balance, every decision makes a difference.
Every word drafted and every line written far from the bedside still lands at the bedside, and the distance between the two is only an illusion.
When decisions made in a conference room reach the patient’s room, policy stops being abstract.
When language becomes structure and structure becomes consequence, The View from the Bedside reflects on how words that may be written into policy shape what care becomes possible, who provides it, and who receives it.
Written by Beth Allison Pearson
Five years later…
Here we are,
from “heroes” to “non-professionals.”
How utterly, offensively small.
How insulting to every nurse ever.
How undeserved for the people who have carried so much.
Let’s be clear.
This isn’t about semantics.
It’s about economics.
Written by Beth Allison Pearson
Not everyone feels at home in this season.
Some move through the holidays carrying secrets.
Quiet truths that joy does not arrive on command, that belonging is never guaranteed, and that the world’s scripts were perhaps never written with them in mind.
Written by Beth Allison Pearson
Change moves through like wind in a forest, touching what it passes, felt before it is understood.
Written by Beth Allison Pearson
August in New England begins in a blaze.
The sun burns hot, heavy with the weight of summer. Fields buzz with crickets, the air thick with warmth, and the days stretch wide, steeped in fullness.
Written by Beth Allison Pearson
Birthday plans: kayak to an island, camp under the stars.
Reality: thunder, lightning, smoke, and mud.
The trip had been planned for months. Gear stacked and ready, the kayak waiting. Moving with the current and sleeping waterside was meant to be the celebration itself.
The pivot became staying home. A deep breath, then another, and the choice to let it be enough. Drumming in the backyard, dancing barefoot, curling up with the cats.
Written by Beth Allison Pearson
The term Shinrin-yoku means “forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere.” It was introduced by Japan’s Ministry of Forestry in the early 1980s as a public health practice. The idea was simple: time in the forest could help people feel better.