You may have more in common with Florence Nightingale than you think! To honor this “founder of modern nursing” on her birthday, I’d like to share  Ms. Nightingale’s view of life as a woman in her Victorian era:

“The morning is spent sitting round a table in the drawing room looking at prints, doing worsted work, reading little books. Everybody reads aloud from their own book or newspaper and every five minutes something is said. The afternoon is passed in taking little drives….when night comes women suffer physically the accumulation of nervous energy which had nothing to do all day and makes them feel every night when they go to bed as if they are going mad.” (*p. 14)

I’m forever thankful that Ms. Nightingale was a feminist before her time, rebelling against her Victorian life and proceeding to blaze the trail of modern nursing.

I can identify with her. I’d be no good sitting around doing handwork… How about you?

*Source: Monica Baly (Ed.). 1991. As Miss Nightingale said… London: Scutari Press.

Photo credit: Wikipedia