Are you happy?

tattooednursie, LVN · Jan 28, 2003

I love my job, but I have been moody latley. I have had more than a week off (even though I have been ill), so I'm going to try to be all refreshed when I come back.

EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2003

Yeah I totally have the Winter Blues, maybe I need to go on a vacation someplace warm and sunny!! (Yeah right, let me save my money). Spring PLEASE come soon!!

Teshiee · Jan 28, 2003

Nursing is okay. When I meet new grads I really tell them the positive side and let them encounter the negatives on their own so I don't seem negative. I have been a RN for 2 1/2 years and I am getting tired. Not so much the patients the whole political redderick of this profession. We do not get what we deserve and when we do there is so much opposition among our selves. I come to work with a good attitude and dead tired when I leave. When I know I have done the best that I could and make a difference of what I did it makes it worth while to hang in there just a little longer. I know deep down that nursing is the most rewarding profession anyone could do. Why it is so damn hard in making conditions better I will never understand. I pray that things will get better for the up and coming nurses hopefully they will make a difference too........

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jan 28, 2003

The sun has come out for me recently in terms of what I want to do for the second half of my life, as well as getting some emotional and physical health issues resolved. Getting fired from that LTC management job was the best thing that could've happened to me, even though it was devastating at the time. I was literally forced to re-examine my whole life, and I finally figured out why I kept taking jobs in troubled facilities, only to burn out after a few months or a year......how good it is to know that I don't have to try to "save" a facility single-handedly anymore, and that I deserve a functional workplace! Can anyone say, "Co-Dependent No More"?

It's also nice to realize that the five- and six-day weeks I've been working for the past three years were killing me, and I don't need to work that much to make a decent living. In fact, when I do go back to work, I'm planning to take a casual position on the OB-GYN floor at the hospital where I worked a few years ago and do a couple of 12-hr. shifts per week, which will give me plenty of downtime PLUS enough time to pursue my *other* avocation, writing commentaries for newspapers and magazines. I haven't been able to do that for years......no time, no creativity left over after working 50-60 hr. weeks. There wasn't even anything left over for ME....all I could think of was spending what little downtime I had vegetating on the sofa. I didn't want to go anywhere or do anything. I didn't want to see movies or go shopping or visit friends. I was boring. And I lived like that for three years, then had the nerve to be surprised when I got depressed!!!

So if you ask me now if I'm happy, I'd have to say YES. Living on unemployment and anticipating surgery may not be many people's idea of happiness, but for me, this is the first time in a long time that I feel like I've got something to look forward to!

Teshiee · Jan 28, 2003

OOOOh I truly understand. Sounds like the world has open up to you and you are finally doing what is making you happy. Good luck and take care. :-) mjlrn97

Agnus · Jan 28, 2003

Wow! I came here thinking this was a new thread. I was going to respond, " yes," then to my suprise I found that this was not new and I had posted previously. It was interesting to read my old post that I did not remember at all.

I am still happy. I love nursing too much. I get tired I get frustrated at times. I even get cranky but I am very happy. Everyday is fulfilling. I look forward to all that I can do. There are so many options in this profession and life.

I used to be depressed a lot and often. I have difficulty relating to that now.

Jenny P · Jan 29, 2003

After 34 years as an RN (and the 5 years before that as an aide and PN), I still love my job and being a nurse. My body is wearing out however, and I've needed to change my work shift and schedule a bit so I can continue to do what I love (and it is helping!). If I won the lottery, I probably would still be working, but in a less physically demanding position.

Do I get depressed at times? Yes because you can't be happy all of the time; that is unrealistic. BUT, I put myself in the patients' place and realize I can't let the patient know I have my own problems too. That patient is in the hospital and just because he is hospitalized, HIS problems are worse than mine (most of the time). For the 8-12 hours I'm at work; my problems are mine.

On my own time I am involved in many volunteer activities that replenish my own spirit; and then volunteering in my professional nursing organizations helps make my career better.

Having some physical activities that you enjoy helps make life brighter also, as does taking time to be out in Nature enjoying gardening or skating or shoveling snow; sometimes DOING something is important; and sometimes just BEING is more important (kind of like the old saying: "sometimes I just sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.").

And it is always nice to be appreciated. That always brings a song to my heart and a smile to my lips. :)

OrthoNutter · Jan 29, 2003

Originally posted by a-rose
The hard Nursing need nurses keep good mood. Do you have the best mental state?

Hmm....let me see....I haven't been truly happy in around six years. I've also been a nurse for six years....well I don't know about you but to me that says something. At the moment, the days where I can tolerate being at work and get by out-number those where I just can't stand to be there by only a slight margin. When the scales tip, that's when I'll be packing my bags and heading out the door.