I have decided why I feel so crumby lately, why I can't make a decision without changing my mind 20 times, why I'm so down alot and just a plain pain in the *** lately. It has to be the night shift! I have felt yucky lately and can't seem to get enough sleep, no matter how long I day sleep.
I just don't feel like doing anything anymore, just lay around the house, play on the computer, sleep and work. I'm tired of whining and complaining. The thing is...I would have to look for another job, because there is no day shift opening at my present job. I love the place, but it is either stay there and maybe become ill or find something during the day and leave a place I love. I haven't even seen Portland yet, because I don't want to go anyplace, after work or on my nights off. UGH!!! I have lived here for one year now!!! I'm so confused.
The VA has a day position for a LPN in their Specialty Clinic, M-F, 8:30 to 4:30, with weekends and evenings off. I live about 20-30 minutes from the VA. Also there is a position with Multnomah ESD, but it pays only $14.15 an hour. I prefer the better paying VA job. I had my clinicals at a VA hospital and loved the place!
Do you think I should try for it? I polished my resume tonight and it looks good. I need a change and this may be the right move. What do you think?
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I wish you the best of luck!
I loved working nights.......loved the autonomy, the teamwork, the lack of families/visitors/'suits' etc. But after hitting 40, my body decided that nights didn't love me back, and I began to experience what I feared was the beginning of early-onset dementia: I forgot things, sometimes woke up confused as to time and place, blew off appointments, and had such bad mood swings that my family was ready to throw me out of the house!
I went on for an entire year this way, wondering why I couldn't remember things and thinking I was on the verge of burnout.....then I took a two-week vacation, during which I woke up at 7 AM every morning and was asleep by midnight, and suddenly I felt like an entirely new person. Yes, I was on a much needed vacation, but it was more than that: I felt good for the first time in a dog's age. My former mental sharpness returned, my mood stabilized, and I began to actually look forward to getting up in the morning. And I knew what I had to do: get a day job!
Now, I've never been what anyone would call a morning person......in fact, I HATE getting up early with a pink and purple passion! So I've been working the 3-11 shift for the past year and a half, which has been much kinder to my body than either day or night shift; now, on the 15th, I'll be starting what to me is THE perfect shift: 11 AM to 7 PM, four days a week (no weekends, ha-ha!! ). This way I STILL don't have to be up at the crack of dawn, but now I'll get to be home with my family in the evenings (and see the good TV shows!) plus I can get to bed at a decent hour instead of coming home after midnight and then not being able to go to sleep until 2 AM.
I have worked the occasional 7-7 or 11-7 night shift in recent years to help out, but since it takes me 2 full days to recover from a single NOC shift, I prefer not to do it very often, to say the least. I'm great when I listen to my body and obey its limits.......and when I don't, I pay dearly for it. :uhoh21:
I hate nites too.........I have a 18 month old and a 4 yr old, and I have to stay awake until my husband gets home at 4:30, I'm always tired, never see my kids, and just ready to give it up. Plus we have mandation policies, if someone calls in, you can be stuck working on past to 3pm. It's hard on the body, family, and turns everything up sidedown
I need a change and this may be the right move. What do you think?
VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN
22 Articles; 9,996 Posts
I wish you the best of luck!
I loved working nights.......loved the autonomy, the teamwork, the lack of families/visitors/'suits' etc. But after hitting 40, my body decided that nights didn't love me back, and I began to experience what I feared was the beginning of early-onset dementia: I forgot things, sometimes woke up confused as to time and place, blew off appointments, and had such bad mood swings that my family was ready to throw me out of the house!
I went on for an entire year this way, wondering why I couldn't remember things and thinking I was on the verge of burnout.....then I took a two-week vacation, during which I woke up at 7 AM every morning and was asleep by midnight, and suddenly I felt like an entirely new person. Yes, I was on a much needed vacation, but it was more than that: I felt good for the first time in a dog's age. My former mental sharpness returned, my mood stabilized, and I began to actually look forward to getting up in the morning. And I knew what I had to do: get a day job!
Now, I've never been what anyone would call a morning person......in fact, I HATE getting up early with a pink and purple passion! So I've been working the 3-11 shift for the past year and a half, which has been much kinder to my body than either day or night shift; now, on the 15th, I'll be starting what to me is THE perfect shift: 11 AM to 7 PM, four days a week (no weekends, ha-ha!!
). This way I STILL don't have to be up at the crack of dawn, but now I'll get to be home with my family in the evenings (and see the good TV shows!) plus I can get to bed at a decent hour instead of coming home after midnight and then not being able to go to sleep until 2 AM.
I have worked the occasional 7-7 or 11-7 night shift in recent years to help out, but since it takes me 2 full days to recover from a single NOC shift, I prefer not to do it very often, to say the least. I'm great when I listen to my body and obey its limits.......and when I don't, I pay dearly for it. :uhoh21: