After working and going to school full time to become a nurse, I finally graduated earlier during the summer. I went from being busy everyday, to having four days off! I found myself get bored to death by the second day off . My social schedule is not as demanding as Paris Hilton's, but I am not a loaner. I always have one or two social things to do during the week, but nothing special.
Anyway, it hit me when one of my co-workers was talking to me about how she loved rock climbing, and another could not look forward to his taekwando class; I have nothing else I am actively passionate about other than nursing! How sad I thought... I had always toyed with the idea of taking up a sport, a hobby, or getting involved in some kind of club when I had the time and some money. Finally, I have both! So, I ordered a tennis racket and balls online, and found a private tennis instructor (only 25 bucks an hour!). Now, I hope to make it my new hobby.
So, tell me nurses what are you passionate about aside from nursing? Are you a full time mum/dad on your days off, do you have a hobby, do you just enjoy your quite time with a nice book? I'm curious to know, what do you do on your days off???
Like many have already said, I sleep. First I work nights and as much over time as possible so most weeks I may have one day off. When I have more than that, it's time to catch up on house work and spend some time with the kids and of course CEU's and nurse stuff on the web. Once in a while spend some time with the hubby.
well Im now in my final semester of the 4 year program and am really hoping to be able to join the women's hockey league next fall... I was thinking the same as you... nursing seems to be my only thought for the most part... looking forward to being a real person again:P
well, i'm glad to hear i'm not alone. since i started working nights, all i want to do on my days off is sleep. it really sucks because i used to enjoy going to the beach, taking trips, and so on. but now i just don't have the energy to do any of that.
I also work nights. First day off I usually only sleep 4-5 hours, eat and drink coffee when I get up, and then run errands. I stay home that night, doing laundry and catching up on the mail and worrying about the most recent theatrics at work. I'm usually pretty low energy the next day and don't do much that day. But if I have more days off, by the 3rd day off I am usually able to have enough energy to do stuff I consider fun - like biking, hiking, backpacking, and trips out of town. I find if I drink caffeine and force myself to do fun stuff, it usually works out. But convincing myself that I'll have the energy to do it is really hard.
As night shift people we need to remember that we get less vitamin D and it messes with our natural rhythm. If you always work nights it's very difficult to live what most people consider a normal life. But hey normal is way over rated anyway. I believe the worst thing in the world is when you have to rotate day/night. I don't see how people do it. We just need to remind ourselves to take care of our bodies and minds (which is easier said than done.)
I usually come home from work and once the kids are off to school I work on laundry and cleaning, get whatever needs done out of the way before I sit down, once I sit I crash lol I usually catch a power nap till 2p when it's time to pick up the girls, then come home and cat nap on the couch for a few hours and then back to the school to pick up the man-cub from football practice, then home again to make dinner, by then I've got most every thing done and I'm still tired enough to sleep in the bed with hubby lol luckily he keeps the house up nights I'm working so it's not like there is 3-4 days/nights worth of stuff built up for me, then I can spend the rest of my days off however I want
Well I am a first semester student, so I'm still trying to plant my feat and get this nursing school process down. But I do know when I graduate and get settled in my first job, if I am able I plan to get involved in MA, a few organizations like NAACP, Church, ANA, etc, and adjust to life as a "worker" LOL
On my day off... I SLEEP!!!!... No time to waste.. My body is so full of stress to even bother going out... What a life... hahahahah...
after waking up, my body clock is soOOO confuse is it MORNING or do I have duty today, then came to realize i slept the whole day!!! Slowly crawl myself to the KITCHEN and EAT!!!
Play computer games with my brother..
:vdgmg: and then ....the day ends, spending time with my boyfriend...:kiss
Yesterday morning when I got off work, thought it was a good idea to go to breakfast with my mom and then we went shopping. By 10am she left, I showered when to bed, woke up at 5pm when back to bed at 11 and just woke up.
I geocache! It's a cool little sport/activity where people hides boxes of trinkets out in the woods, then post the GPS coordinates where the box is located on the above site. I put the coordinates in my Garmin GPS, then head out and try to find the little box of trinkets. It's like a high-tech treasure hunt. Lots of times, the caches are placed in some cool, out of the way place that you never would have known existed. You can pick your hunts by ratings, so they can be as easy or as hard as you want...some involve hiking and mountain climbing all day with special equipment, but most are simple little walks in a park that you can do with the wee ones. When you find the treasure, you're free to take something you want out of the box, but you have to leave something to replace it. You then log it on the site, and it keeps track of everything for you.
Since the Kiddo is grown, we've started going after more difficult finds. So I guess you could say that I spend my off time crawling around in the briars and poison ivy, fighting mosquitos and chiggers, to find a Tupperware box full of Happy Meal toys! Good Times!
I also spend a lot of my off time watching hockey. We go to lots of Stars games, and have the Centre Ice TV package, so I can follow my other teams. I plan to travel to see a few out of town games this year, and start on one of my lifetime goals, which is to see an NHL game in every team's arena in North America. I went to nursing school to support my hockey habit.
... No time to waste.. My body is so full of stress to even bother going out... What a life... hahahahah...
It's like a high-tech treasure hunt. Lots of times, the caches are placed in some cool, out of the way place that you never would have known existed. You can pick your hunts by ratings, so they can be as easy or as hard as you want...some involve hiking and mountain climbing all day with special equipment, but most are simple little walks in a park that you can do with the wee ones. When you find the treasure, you're free to take something you want out of the box, but you have to leave something to replace it. You then log it on the site, and it keeps track of everything for you.
MichiganRN, when you said you slept on your days off you really meant business!
NightshiftRN69
47 Posts
Like many have already said, I sleep. First I work nights and as much over time as possible so most weeks I may have one day off. When I have more than that, it's time to catch up on house work and spend some time with the kids and of course CEU's and nurse stuff on the web. Once in a while spend some time with the hubby.