I’m a month shy of my first year as a full fledged RN. I can’t believe it’s gone by so fast! Even though I still feel like there’s still so much for me to do, I’m really happy with how my career is turning out so far. Excitement doesn’t even begin to explain how I feel about the next few years that are in store for me.
I really, really love my job. Don’t get me wrong, the days are tough. And by tough I mean there are moments where I totally question whether or not I should still be doing bedside nursing. I question whether I deserve to put up with certain things, like being disrespected or undermined by healthcare team members or family members. But you know what? It only takes one thank you to turn a horrible day into a really good day. It only takes my co-workers to acknowledge and commend me to make all the bad go away in one go.
The other thing I like about being a nurse is that whenever I work, I feel most like myself. Like, the person my patients and my co-workers see, is 100% the true blue me. For whatever reason, I can talk to people better and I feel more confident. When I’m just at home or with friends, I feel like another person in a different role, and I guess that role I play is a person that isn’t as happy as the role I play as a nurse. There are moments where I complain about going to work, but at the end of the day, I really enjoy what I do. On nicer days, I really look forward to working and really give my 100%.
So what’s next? I’m gonna play around in the emergency department for a little bit and see how I like it there. If it’s not my cup of tea, it’s off to ICU 🙂 I also applied to the Master’s Program where I finished my undergrad, so my career is definitely starting to take off.
I’m happy with my life. I’m happy with where I’m going and I’m glad to be in an environment that fills all the empty spaces I had in me. I’m growing to be the kind of person I want to be. It’s taking a bit longer than I wanted, but I feel like I’m making progress 🙂