The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to have a career. Not just a job, but a career. A job seems temporary to me - something that will tide me over until a better job comes along. But a career is how I choose to spend my life. Here is the story of how I decided to become a nurse. I don't expect this story to impress anyone.
I was living in Houston, but spending this particular weekend visiting my family in a beautiful little small town in northeast Texas. I had my two-year old daughter and had just ended a two-year relationship. I was spending that weekend contemplating my future; needing to make decisions about....well, everything. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to raise my daughter in that town - where everyone was at the ballfields on Saturday and at church on Sunday. I needed a job where I could support my little family in this town. I considered teaching or nursing. I leaned toward nursing because of the many options - there are probably hundreds of different jobs I could do as a nurse. So there, I would look into nursing schools when I got back to Houston. The process lasted about 15 minutes. No thought was given to the actual job - the work, the care, the sympathy, the pain. The only factor at that moment was the job security.
Fast forward 17 years. I graduated from Houston Baptist University with my BSN approximately five years after that weekend. I've been an RN for 12 years. I still live in this beautiful little small town in northeast Texas. My nursing career has seen me through the birth of my two sons. It carried my family through a traumatic divorce. It has allowed many different schedules while I tried to find child care arrangements that fit. It has allowed for flexible scheduling so that I could attend my daughter's school events, soccer games, track meets, or basketball games. It has provided affordable health care benefits, as well as retirement benefits and life/disability insurance. And it provides an income that has supported my family comfortably. We're not wealthy by US standards, but we certainly have everything we need.
My career as an RN has also provided much more personal growth than I had planned. I need to continue gaining knowledge always. My patients need care, healing, teaching, understanding and patience. I find myself lacking on the last two. Luckily, I have plenty of time to build those up. I also find that my coworkers at times need care, healing, teaching, understanding and patience. I mostly enjoy helping new nurses find their feet. Though I must admit, sometimes I want to direct their feet outside of work, too. And they don't always want my help. Can you believe that??
I listen to Dave Ramsey's show almost daily. So many calls involve people who don't have careers. They just pass through one job after another. The more I listen, the more grateful I am for my career. Nursing is life-long. It's exciting in the trenches, or calmer behind a desk. It's whatever I want it to be. And as I look toward a different future now than 17 years earlier, while I'm planning my life after kids, and planning toward retirement, I thank God almost daily that He put that little blip of an idea in my head all those years ago.
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I've always thought nurses particularly sweet, caring people - I guess it attracts those. Yes, you're fortunate, especially as so many careers are exported offshore and people have to reinvent themselves. I enjoy your writing and thoughts. I like your layout, too! Thank you.
ReplyDelete- Jerr