IV_Espresso

Thank you everyone for the honest feedback! Now I feel that I am more torn. I am just scared that if I request straight nights with no explanation, the answer will be no. I am just curious, perhaps it is because I am new... why is confiding in my manager a bad idea? At my hospital, management and clinical leads are overwhelmingly supportive on our unit, and I know this from my own experience and from talk from other units. I suppose i understand that I wouldn't want to be labeled as "high maintenance", but I also don't want to hide or bottle up my concerns. Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks!

In nursing school it was a bit different for me, as I did not have children and went to school full-time with just a contingent job. I exercised some, but first i really focused on my diet. At the beginning of each week, I went to the grocery store. When I got home, the first thing I would do is make snack bags for class and cook my meat for my main meals. Even if the meals weren't 100% healthy, it helped keep my weight on track when I couldn't exercise!!

I am a new grad nurse recently out of orientation. I was hired for a rotating position (to learn as a new nurse), equal time days and nights. On nights, I feel good. I am still scared as a new grad, but I feel that I am able to safely give care for my patients... And, after lots of self-reflection, I truly feel that I am meant to work nights. When I oriented on day-shift, my anxiety level was off the charts. And I am not an anxious person. I always felt behind, and I despite very positive feedback, I feel that I was not a good nurse on days. I was unable to sleep, and would constantly think about work even on days when I was not working or had some time off. I had this pit in my stomach that would not go away, and my heart was racing whether I was working or not. On nights, it was not and is not like this at all. I feel that I really need to talk to my manager about this. I have come to this decision because I went to schedule myself for the next scheduling period (on days) and I burst into tears just thinking about going to days again. I know I would learn a lot by being on day shift (and I definitely did while orienting), but I feel that my mental health would suffer. My question is, am I right that I should talk to my manager and ask them to go to straight nights? And, how should I go about this? I am thinking that honesty is the best policy, but I don't want them to think I am crazy. I am also thinking about confiding in my nurse educator, who I feel could give me some good advice. Any advice or feedback would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks!