Ok, after all my Negative Nelly posts about nursing, today is the day you’ve all been waiting for. Nursing is a WONDERFUL profession, and there are many days I would do it for free. Here’s my top 7 reasons I love nursing:
1. Sorrow that the Eye Can’t See.
Lord I Will Follow Thee is the BYU College of Nursing official hymn (seriously, at least it was). There is truly SO much going on with people. There is SO much people can’t see. I feel SO blessed to sometimes help a bit with the sorrow that eyes can’t see. Seriosuly, that’s my #1. How many of you get to do that at work?
2. Wonderful co-workers.
I work with funny, brassy gals who I wouldn’t trade for anything. They’re fun to be around. They are personable and caring, and that doesn’t just end at the bedside. They’re that for me and for each other. We are lucky to have each other.
3. I don’t mind guts.
Bodily fluids (in general) don’t bug me. I’m used to it and I really don’t mind that part of the job. It certainly comes with the territory, but I’m glad (most days) to take that part on.
4. Good hours.
I have found jobs that are flexible to allow me to be a mom and work and somehow make it work with very little childcare. You CAN work nights, weekends and holidays and swap parenting on the other days. Even if I worked full time, I’d only be gone 3 days/week. That leave me available more days than I’m gone.
5. Jobs are plentiful.
I won’t say that GOOD jobs are plentiful. I worked nursing home for a while and it was HORRIBLE — but I did it. I’m reaping the benefits now, and it certainly wasn’t all that difficult to find a job when we moved here (or when we moved to CA). A trained nurse is as good as gold.
6. Part time pay is great.
I don’t want to work full time at this point. I HAVE worked full time, and I probably WILL work full time again — but right now part time is perfect. It’s just hard to walk into another other profsesion, and work part time and get paid so well — hourly. Plus, when I leave work at work it’s LEFT at work. No bringing work home with me. 🙂 {emotions sometimes make their way home, but I’m getting better at processing those the longer I do it}
7. I have saved lives.
I was walking around Walmart the other day, after a particularly harrowing shift, wondering if anyone else had done what I had done that day. Sometimes I feel like a superhero. An underpaid, under-loved superhero — but a superhero nevertheless. I once got a card from a grandma effusively thanking me for saving her daughter and her grandchild’s life. I did that at work one night. It’s an amazing thing to think you’re REALL Y making a difference out there. I really am.
Nursing is a wonderful profession that I am proud to call my own. I feel really blessed to have chose it and to be doing it still today. It fits our family so well. I feel very inspired to have picked it so young, and still {mostly} love it today.
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