I’m finally settled into my new life out of the city, my position as an eating disorder recovery nurse and for the first time in as long as I can remember I feel like I have a routine. And security. I love my job. A lot. My schedule at work keeps me very busy. I work three nights a week and have been picking up extra shifts occasionally. I have an awesome dog walker who comes and takes Copper out in the evenings when I work and since he’s almost back to normal I feel more at ease leaving him at home during my long shifts.
Commuting to work in Denver hasn’t been horrible now that I mostly work earlier in the week. It’s crazy how light traffic is on Monday and Tuesdays. With each day closer to Friday traffic adds 5 – 10 minutes. How is that possible? In any case, it’s not horrible. Except Fridays. Fridays are bad. Bright side – I have had weekends off this month and I’m so thankful I can enjoy my Saturdays & Sundays and attend church again 🙂
In other news – I’m beginning to explore Masters programs. I have a strong interest in nurse management & administration. I also have an interest in teaching. I’ve been training at work and I thoroughly enjoy it. I don’t know what direction to take at this point but there are several online MS in Nursing options with plenty of financial aid available. We’ll see.
Fall arrived this week and I was supposed to celebrate with 8 days off and a road trip to California. Today I decided to stick around Colorado for another few weeks and instead postpone my road trip until the second week of October. My facility is short staffed, our beds are filling up quickly and we need extra nurses. So Overtime for now & California later. I miss my family a lot so I’m doing my best to make it back. Life is proceeding here in Colorado though and I feel the more I devote myself to my career the harder it is to break away from my normal life and head to California.
I always knew this would happen at some point. I have to watch myself to make sure I don’t get too sucked into the day-to-day grind. Make time for what really matters.
It’s strange because I had always hoped I’d find myself in a position where I felt very devoted to my career. I didn’t feel that at the hospital. At all. Now that I found an area of nursing that I’m very passionate about (mental health & eating disorders) I feel like I’ve reached that point. Career Satisfaction. It’s a great feeling. But for someone who thrives on career satisfaction and constantly bettering myself it can also mean becoming a work-a-holic. Thinking about work while I’m not at work. Devoting myself to working extra. I’m thankful that I have no children or husband to cater to right now. It’s just me & I can focus a lot of time and energy on my career. To moving up the ladder.
So that’s my update. I’m trying to update this thing often but I consistently fail.
And I almost forgot – Can you believe I just celebrated my 5 YEAR COLORADO ANNIVERSARY?
I’m so thankful to have moved to a wonderful state, started a new life & fallen in love with this place. Life sure has changed drastically since first arriving here on September 18, 2009. I was 23 years old. I’m turning 29 in a couple of months. I can’t believe it…
| jenn at home | 