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A Real Nurse Story: Linda Himmelbaum

Throughout her 35 years as a registered nurse, Linda Himmelbaum was looking for her perfect path, little knowing it was right in front of her eyes. She'd spent most of her nursing career counseling others. She was the emotional lifeline to senior citizens dealing with the grief of permanently leaving their homes and losing their independence when she worked at a senior residence in Stamford, Conn. "I always loved [helping] seniors," she says, "even as a little girl." She offered pointers on self-image and nutrition during her years at a bariatrician's office. And as an oncology nurse at Sloan Kettering and other hospitals, she provided support to people struggling with cancer.

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Professionally, she counseled people with terminal illnesses. Then, terminal illness entered her personal life when her dearest friend was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given just months to live. Linda's family opened their home and their hearts to her friend, and nurtured her to the end. Linda helped her friend embrace her transition with courage, peace, and dignity.

Emotionally and physically drained after coping with her friend's illness and death, Linda temporarily left nursing, opening a consignment boutique in Boca Raton, Fla. But although finding meaningful and fulfilling work is everyone's dream, the true path to happiness is recognizing that dream when you see it. Linda eventually took to heart the lesson learned by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, who said, "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any farther than my own backyard."

Linda realized that even as a shop owner, she was counseling others. "The [people offering] consignments would come in after losing their husbands, or discovering they had breast cancer," Linda recalls. "I found myself telling them where to go; what resources were available. I thought,'Wow, that's my passion; counseling is what I love.' I decided to make the switch [back to nursing] and go out on my own." Her life's true purpose revealed, Linda became a practitioner in what she dubbed "transitional counseling."

"When people are going through difficult transitions, they deserve a compassionate heart," she says. Linda now works primarily with senior citizens and their families, helping them deal with major life changes, like leaving a home for an assisted living facility, or dealing with life-threatening illnesses.

“Nurses counsel all the time,” she says. “The transition is taking someone from one place to another.” Linda listens to clients’ losses and grief, and offers ideas to “gently guide them to new possibilities.” Using processes learned during a lifetime of wellness studies—relaxation and breathing techniques, meditation, hypnotherapy, imagery and visualization—she helps her clients focus on the positive aspects of their situations and lifts them from depression and despair.

In order to keep her own spirits up, Linda practices what she preaches. She meditates and attends spiritual services on compassion and friendship. "It's important to take care of my physical and spiritual self," she says.

The rewards are numerous. "A senior citizen who goes into assisted living may be depressed," says Linda. "I can take her from that place and watch the transition, the whole incredible metamorphosis. I watch her make friends, settle in, and share her wisdom. She comes alive again. The transformation inspires me."