Do you know of any nurses that left nursing?

[raindrop]

I am thinking about it. I feel like I have aged soooo much since becoming a nurse. Especially the past couple of months. Also, I have GI probs because my nerves are shot (diarrhea every night, minutes before I leave for work), and I sometimes feel my heart race when I am at work and one of my coworkers is communicating with me in a aggressive or passive-aggresive manner. Fine lines are starting to surface, my feet ache, and I am mentally exhausted.

Been thinking about becoming a Paralegal. My friend works as one and absolutely loves her independence. As a matter of fact, I think I am jealous of her! Sure, lawyers are cranky 99% of the time, but cranky/grouchy is better than passive-aggressive, bitchy, and manipulative! She spends a lot of her day working from home, or in the legal library. Ahhh.

Or I have been thinking about court stenography. Big bucks, sans cattiness, for the most part.

Or........A dog groomer. If I choose this route, I will open my own biz.

Or Paralegal/court stenographer AND dog groomer.

So, have you, or do you know of anyone, who said bu-bye to nursing and went back to school to pursue something else? DO they have any regrets? What type of work did they pursue?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I apologize for completely hijacking this thread, but...Andreas wrote, "...due to very few health care employers providing insurance..."

Yikes! Is this true? I will admit I haven't really checked this out; I just assumed that hospitals (and doctors' offices, I should think) provide health benefits.

Is my assumption totally off-base? Thanks!

When I was hired onto my very first nursing job 2 years ago, the facility offered no benefits whatsoever, to any employees who worked there. They offered no health insurance, dental plans, vision, 401k retirement plans, or anything that would cause me to stay employed at this place long-term. I found another job that offered benefits 6 weeks later, but the benefits being offered were somewhat crappy.

I've had better benefits at non-nursing jobs. When I was a grocery store cashier, my health insurance was free to me because the company paid for it completely. When I was a factory worker at a paper mill, I only paid $20 monthly for excellent health insurance, dental, and vision. The retirement was free to me at the paper mill, as it was completely funded by the employer.