Night and Day

Wow! Three posts in three days?  Is this a new record?  Anyways, in my previous post about nursing I briefed alluded to the crazy schedule any RN on a acute care unit deals with.  I work days, nights, weekends, holidays.  There was always the knowledge and expectation of working a schedule in that lodged itself in the back of my mind, but I never focused or thought about it in depth until I began.  I'm realizing that it is difficult for me to do the things that I want.

One of the challenges of dealing with a constantly dynamic schedule is being able to consistently attend and therefore serve God at church.  Being a nursing student, I was almost always inundated with studying, classes, and clinicals, but I got most nights and weekends off.  This allowed me to attend church, fellowship nights and music practice on a fairly regular basis.  I miss that.  Over the past six months, I've come to the realization of how many sacrifices I've had to make to pursue this profession.  I've given up the comforts of home, the closeness of family and friends, and a consistent schedule.  I don't expect to sleep every night, only in short hours whenever I can find.

This irregularity of schedule very quickly became clear once I started working and I found a church.  I have found that being able to serve in the capacity which I did back home, in California, has become impossible, which has been been frustrating, even causing some internal turmoil.

As a new nurse and a young person in the profession, I am often asked, "What next?"  People can see that this is just he beginning of a long-term career with a variety of possible opportunities.  During my time here, working a constantly shifting schedule, I have realized that eventually I don't want to be working odd hours.  The extra pay that comes with working weekends and nights is not worth the sacrifice in time and quality of life, which is not measured in how much money I have, but in the way I spend my time and energy.  It has allowed me to contemplate different career possibilites that I would not have considered when I first started.  Such possibilites as working in a clinic or being a charge nurse.  The future is an exciting adventure not yet explored.