Career CNA?

If you are currently working as a CNA, are you considering it for a career? How much longer do you plan on doing it? Could you see yourself doing this type of work for life, or is it more of a short-term gig to gain experience or save up money until you move on to your real goal?

Personally, I am undecided in this respect. I decided to go into CNA work because of my dad -- when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I took care of him and it made me think that maybe caring for others was my calling. So far, I haven't regretted my decision to get my training and certification. I find it very fulfilling and rewarding to take care of others, and that's what I want most in a job, something that fulfills me on a personal level. I've met many amazing and wonderful souls since becoming a CNA, and knowing that I'm able to help these people in need is a very empowering feeling. The pay might not be the greatest, but I have never been interested in making the big bucks anyway. It is better than what you'd make in, say, fast food or retail, but I am unsure if it'd be enough to support myself on my own if I had to. Right now, I have my husband to help me out with paying the bills so I don't need a high-paying job, but I'd like to be making enough to have the security where if anything happened to him, I'd be able to survive on my own. So I just don't know. It may be possible to survive on your own on CNA salary but it'd be tough, that's for sure.

Another thing is that I am the type of person that likes to constantly learn and improve on myself, and try out new things. So in a few years, I was thinking of going back to school for either registered nursing, or veterinary technology. However, I've always felt iffy about becoming an LPN or RN because while it may pay better than CNA and have more opportunities, it also comes with a lot more stress, liability and responsibility and I'm just not sure how well I would deal with that. When I was working as a CNA in the LTC environment, I found it immensely stressful and it seems being an RN would be 100x the stress. The environment I'm working in now though is less stressful, and I like it better. I still like the idea of getting a degree in veterinary technology, though. I've always loved animals and I love all of what being a vet tech entails -- assisting with surgeries, lab work, X-rays, etc. I think, getting that combined with my CNA certification would open up a lot of jobs for me. So I might just wind up doing that, continue working as a CNA + go to school for vet tech and that way I could do both as I wanted.