Nurses keep going and going and going...

Given how many nurses are abusing drugs, alcohol, and other things of the nature, how many show up as patients on psych floors, how poorly marriages go, statistically, and so on and so forth, I strongly disagree with this assessment. Nurses are like every other person out there. Pushed too hard, health declines, addiction becomes a coping mechanism, and family/friend support circles are taxed.

Study breaks down divorce rates by occupation

The stigma of drug abuse among nurses | Addiction Blog

Since becoming a nurse, I have actually stopped drinking except socially, on very rare occasions (less than 5 times a year, never to "drunkenness").

I have not fallen into ill health, but I have gained a bit more weight than I would like, albeit most of it was gained while bulking and adding lean muscle mass. I can still jog/run 5 miles and still deadlift almost twice my weight.

My spending habits have become poorer, admittedly.

I have sworn off "serious" romantic relationships/the idea of marriage (albeit, it wasn't appealing before nursing, really).

I have seen a lot of people "fall harder" than I have, once becoming nurses, though. I think this is a lot of the time due to the kind of people who typically get into the field. They tend to be more prone to self-destruction as a course of "doing their job" and tend to put others first, and not adequately care for themselves. I have personally found that if I am hungry, if I am holding my bladder, etc. I am NOT effective. I get snappy and HCAHPS scores suffer markedly, I'm sure. So I don't let that happen. If I am not running a code, I will find time to eat/go to the bathroom/etc. as priority #1 unless someone is hurting/tanking worse than I am, in which case, professionally and personally, I think stopping the bleeding/starting the levophed takes precedence!

More assertive. Less passive aggressive. I think that is something I could work on, and as a whole, nurses should work on, as a field. It will go a long ways toward preventing issues---because we are not robots. We are people, and we WILL BREAK DOWN if we don't put ourselves before our jobs, within reason. Period. Nursing is a job. It is not some sort of "state of being" like solid, liquid, gas. Don't let it get out of its place in your life. Family, God, Country.