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Sailing back to slack tide
As I slowly make my way towards retirement and my last working day as a nurse — I find myself looking forward to letting go.
I began letting go of All. The. Things may years ago and the notion of letting go of my career seems like just one more logical step in this process.
In my early years as a nurse, I pushed myself to be more. I changed J.O.B.S every few years to add experience to my resume. While I stuck with the same facility for over twenty-five years now — it’s been sinfully easy to change departments within that facility and explore whole new areas of nursing.
My ex-husband used to tell me I had a two-year attention span.
When I look back on this career, however, I see that even though I changed departments — three areas of nursing were my wheelhouse no matter where I landed. ICU, OR, and case management. Between these three specialties, I have put in nearly every minute of those twenty-five plus years.
Not one of those areas is basic nursing. ICU and OR nurses are some of the most specialized and skilled in our field. Case management requires additional education and letters after your name.
And after all of this energy put forth into my career — I am so relieved to be in the process of setting it all down.
