Do you feel your family life, your relationship with your husband or significant other, and/or your social life suffers due to working night shift?
How do you adjust your life around it and still get to spend time with those you care about? I kind of feel like I live in my own world or something lol. Im an LPN going back for my RN. Ive worked nights in home care for the year Ive been an LPN. It wasnt that bad at first, but I didnt really have a life at the time. I was in a relationship, but he worked nights too so it worked ok for us. My new boyfriend works days and I feel like we never get to see each other. Im coming and he is going and vice versa. I cant imagine what it would be like when and if a family comes into the picture. Now I hate working nights, and always want to be home when he is. I hate getting home in the morning and he is getting ready to leave for work. I need to stay on nights for the most part at least until I finish school bc thats what works out best for studying, etc....but Im not sure whether I could continue nights as an RN. I do see the benefit, such as being able to get your work done bc no doctors or families, the shift differential, etc....but Im not sure whether its worth it or not. Do u ever feel like u have a normal life?
Specializes in Med/Surg, Geri, Ortho, Telemetry, Psych.
Do you feel your family life, your relationship with your husband or significant other, and/or your social life suffers due to working night shift?
How do you adjust your life around it and still get to spend time with those you care about? I kind of feel like I live in my own world or something lol. Im an LPN going back for my RN. Ive worked nights in home care for the year Ive been an LPN. It wasnt that bad at first, but I didnt really have a life at the time. I was in a relationship, but he worked nights too so it worked ok for us. My new boyfriend works days and I feel like we never get to see each other. Im coming and he is going and vice versa. I cant imagine what it would be like when and if a family comes into the picture. Now I hate working nights, and always want to be home when he is. I hate getting home in the morning and he is getting ready to leave for work. I need to stay on nights for the most part at least until I finish school bc thats what works out best for studying, etc....but Im not sure whether I could continue nights as an RN. I do see the benefit, such as being able to get your work done bc no doctors or families, the shift differential, etc....but Im not sure whether its worth it or not. Do u ever feel like u have a normal life?
Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.
I have to concur that it's a little bit easier to have a life when you work three twelve hour night shifts a week, instead of five eight hour shifts. I plan on going back to doing that eventually; either that or I'm going to stay where I am right now (where you can ONLY work eight hour shifts) and work two doubles a week and one single shift, so I can be home more days.
Right now, what I do mostly is come home from my night shift and actually stay up until about 2-3 pm, because my husband works day shift. He usually gets off of work sometime around 2:30 pm, sometimes earlier, and he comes home and we talk for a few minutes maybe, and then I go to bed. While I'm in bed, he makes dinner =), and at around 9pm, I get up and have dinner with him, we talk for a little while, and then I go to work. So, we don't see a terrible lot of each other, except for on the days that I'm off. But, I do get to spend quite a bit of time with my little girl, which is nice.
I'm getting ready to have a baby in a couple of months though, and don't feel like I'll be able to keep up that particular schedule, so I'll have to somehow cut down to only working 3 nights a week, somehow.
I work three 12 hour night shifts per week, 7p to 7a. I plan nothing on those days d/t its just plain work and sleep. When I come off either a two or three day run, I sleep until noon then start my time off. I find I have plenty of time to have a life. At first I just sat around on days off and told everyone I was tired, but after a few months I joined the YMCA and found my energy level increased. I just had to push myself to get out of the house on at least two of my four days off.
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
It's hard if not impossible.That is why after 9 years on and off working nights, I am done.