Outside of Nursing..

[waiting4ivpush]

Hey everyone. I'm just curious for all you nurses out there, what else do you do outside of Nursing? Are you into business? Owning real estate, or managing side projects? Do you strictly work as a nurse, and it fulfills everything you want? Are you a family oriented person?

Do you own any dogs? What kind of lifestyle do you have? Do you find that your career as a Nurse drains a lot of your energy where you don't have the time or energy to focus on other things?

I'm planning to get my ADN, and right afterwards work on my BSN. At the same time I also want to start building some capital for some business ventures. Honestly, I don't want any children until I'm at least 35 years old. I am 23 right now. Just curious as to what other plans you all have outside of Nursing. Or maybe even within Nursing, as in aiming for your PhD or something similar..

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I have no children, never really had the desire to have any.

I'm currently taking a course and counting the months until my trip to Thailand. I've traveled a lot before I was a nurse. If I had the means, I would work casual and travel.

I'm another one who works to live. There are many other hobbies I could find to occupy my time.

We should be best friends. I loved Thailand. Have a blast! Be forewarned, though, you will never be able to eat "Thai food" again once you come home.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Hi! I cannot wait to leave. The Thai food sucks where I live. I'm sure I will be spoiled after this trip.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Like a lot of folks, I do a lot of things outside of my full time nursing career. I'm a volunteer on my rural fire dept, I'm an active prison reform activist and of course.....AN!

[Mas Catoer]

I do few things.

Modifying my sportbike, teaching some subject at Nursing School, repairing friends' personal computer, carpentry, and my newest project ATM is getting involved in developing our new house.

Those just to make my daily life more colorful. ;-)

[Jmarty31]

Replying because go patriots. I'm a nursing student in NE

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I'm currently a student in an online MSN program with a specialization in nursing education. My course load is part-time (6 graduate level credits), so I am considering enrolling in an online MPS (master of professional studies) program with a specialty area in human resources development.

Judging from my above-mentioned educational pursuits, I am sure some people can correctly guess that I want to leave the bedside. Nursing is a means to an end for me. I would never look to a job to fulfill me or make me whole.

I live in Texas, but I am typing this post at my parents' house in California's Central Valley. I am here visiting for the next few days. I also try to visit a state where I've never been at least once per year.

I do not want children. If the OP is a female, I'd advise her to start having children before the age of 35. Unforeseen events can happen, such as early menopause or lack of ovarian reserve, that make waiting until age 35 to start having babies a suboptimal decision. 90 percent of our eggs are depleted by age 30.

I have had two dogs in my adult life, but could not bond with them and was too busy to take care of them or give them attention.

I am currently in the process of updating the devices in my home. In the past month I've acquired a laptop to replace the six-year-old one I had, a desktop to replace the 12-year-old one I had, and two tablets (one Windows 10 and one Android Lollipop).

I am considering getting a smart TV because I recently had my DirecTV satellite TV service discontinued. For now I watch programs on my devices. It is saving me a noticeable amount of money.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I am extremely unfulfilled with nursing. Had a great life until my boyfriend's child came back to live with him, and now I'm living on my own again. It was nice living with another person and having the extra cash to do whatever we wanted. At this point, everything I want to do costs money and I have some, but he doesn't, and he has a child to keep track of now, so we don't do anything. I don't have local friends, and my current coworkers all have kids and families - I have very little in common with them, so hanging out with them outside of work hasn't been an option. I worked over 60 hours each week the past two weeks because I didn't have anything else to do, and I spend a lot of time watching movies on Netflix when I'm home.

So no life here to speak of.

Nursing sucks the energy right out of me. I work a high stress, high acuity unit. I had more of a life outside of work when I worked front desk at a hotel, because I actually felt like going out, meeting people, doing stuff, etc. My unit is a pressure cooker and sometimes I just sleep for 14 hours when I'm off. I don't know how people have the physical or emotional energy to volunteer, write books, cook, whatever after getting off work. I sure as heck don't. Sometimes after a run of difficult shifts, I don't get off the couch for days.

It depends on the person, I guess, but being a nurse has very negatively impacted the things I am able to do outside of work, mostly because my energy level at home is so much lower than it used to be before I was a nurse.

[Otis 28]

My nursing career is just a section of my life, I am a firefighter/EMT-I, the EMS coordinator and a fire training officer, I garden, can and cook regularly for friends and family. I have a hobby room where I hand craft many things. I am also a FCC licensed amateur radio operator and when needed I do emergency communications for our county. My children are grown but I do have 2 adorable furry kids and the love of my life to keep me company. I don't believe there is a limit on what you can do as a nurse and it doesn't have to be all nursing related.

[CountryMomma, ASN, RN]

Along with being a nurse I am a mother to 3 boys (2 with ADD that requires medication, behavioral modification, 504s, and frequent chats with school professionals), wife to a wonderful husband who works FT as well, raiser of laying hens, and snuggler of my housecat. I'm also the lead dog in our family to our farm dog who follows me outside like my shadow.

I volunteer as an escort every other week for our only women's health clinic that provides termination services.

I also help the hubs with his small-scale farming. And raise meat birds for sale with him.

Oh. I also take at least one class a month through my employer.

And I do respite care for my bestie, who is her grandmother's primary caregiver through hospice.

Writing all that out, no wonder I'm constantly exhausted.

Did I mention we're building a new garage by ourselves?

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

I have raised 2 sons as a single mom (they are now 24 and 25), I ride motorcycles, knit , crochet, tat, weave, embroider, and needlepoint. I am a learning more about politics, as I have learned that it controls so many aspects of our lives, like it or not. I'm also preparing to soon go back to school and complete a MSN in leadership and management track

[R!XTER]

Kudos to all of you who have so much else going on besides work! Right now I'm working and in school for my masters and a mom and wife, and my energy is depleted by those pursuits! I wish I had more time to volunteer, cook, or spend time with the family. Can't remember the last time I watched a full TV episode or movie. At this point I choose sleep over almost anything.

I'm hoping this will all be an investment to give my family a better future, where I can work less and earn more. I just can't see myself being a bedside RN forever, I find it to be beyond draining (mostly due to the people, not the job itself which I do enjoy). Fingers crossed.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I have two boys, 11 and 14 so they keep me busy. I have 3 cats, 2 dogs. Finished my BSN in May and starting my MSN in Jan. I am a school-a-holic. I also am on a diabetes "champion" team and an EMR team so I can be the go-to person on my ortho floor. (I am going into informatics, with my hope of focusing on using data from type 1 monitors to better manage type 1s-my son is a type 1).

I love going to the symphony, minor league baseball games in the summer.