Im a new OB travel nure. After many years of contemplation I finally bit the bullet and took my first assignment. I am a pretty independant girl-no husband, no children-although I do have a boyfriend, but he is supportive of my decision. I managed to get a good recruiter, a good assignment, and even a good schedule written into my contract. I do 6 nights on and 8 nights off so in theory I should have plenty of time at home to catch up and no time to get lonley because all I do on assignment is sleep and work.
I am no stranger to travel or solo travel. I did it for pleasure all through my 20's. I am now in my early 30's. I used to LOVE hotels. I have to say though-the lonliness has been an incredibly unanticipated depressing side effect. I thought I could live in foreign surroundings just fine considering my love for hotel rooms. But there is something different about this. I have no clue why. But its really making me rethink my decision.
Has anyone else dealt with this? Its really becoming bothersome to myself trying to cope and to my poor boyfriend who only hears me whine about hating being away from home. Totally didnt expect this one.
I've discovered that for weight training your body weight is almost as good as weights and is certainly sufficient to maintain your strength even just 15 minutes a week.
Elaborate? I am dependent on gym equipment to maintain my muscle mass.
That's true about chains…I could try planet fitness or VASA, but that would likely limit one from rural assignments. Chains seem to exist in metros only.
My exercise routine on playground equipment includes pull ups, push ups, two kinds of sit ups, rows (hanging parallel to ground on a jungle gym or alternative), and dips on parallel bars, jungle gym, or nearby railings that meet at a 90 degree angle. Two sets of each once a week has proven sufficient to maintain strength as measured by the number of quality pull ups I can do. Takes about 15 minutes. If your body weight is insufficient for what you want to achieve, super slow reps can increase work to whatever you want.
I'd point out that gymnasts have great bodies and similarly use their own body weight for most exercises.
At a gym, I do add a lot of stuff, some free weights or machines for specific muscle groups and prefer it - but am not interested in paying for gym costs for limited use (although I love racquetball at places that offer it). My workout at a gym is around 35 minutes.
I just started my first travel nurse assignment 2 weeks ago. I moved from CT to TX. I severely underestimated how lonely I would feel. I'm a labor & delivery nurse and I equate this feeling with a primip who arrives on the unit after all of her googling and Pinterest ideas stating "no...I don't want an epidural" and then cries and begs for one when she is truly in active labor. I thought I knew what lonely was...but I didn't! Pictures of my family made me happy at home but if I display them in my hotel they make me cry. It feels as if I died and I'm currently in purgatory. I actually feel silly for the amount of personal effects I brought that I have no room for.
I feel your pain. I felt the same way when I was traveling. I used to cry whenever any sad song played in the mall, or on the radio. Things I liked to do with my family, I couldn't enjoy without them. While I made twice the money traveling - the money was awesome - I came home from my last travel assignment and took another job at home.
I literally used to lay awake at night in my motel thinking about how, if I died in the middle of the night, nobody would know until I started to smell. Maids didn't clean the room unless I asked them to. Obviously my husband would be checking on me, frantic, but these thoughts went through my head most nights. Sometimes I was only able to sleep 2 hours in a whole night, I was so anxious.
My mom worried about my safety and so did my husband. It was almost cruel leaving my husband home to do all the chores we have in a big house. I still paid all the bills and everything, but I couldn't enjoy myself knowing his life was all work and no play. He works full time, too.
So I decided, for family reasons, to take a local job again. The money locally for me is less than half of what I made traveling but at least I look forward to my days off instead of dreading them.
Being away from home is harder than you think it will be. After so many weeks, my mind just won't shut off. I'm sure these are issues for nurses who travel alone. Those lucky enough to have their significant other, or even a pet with them, probably feel different.
I sure do miss that money. And yes, I will probably travel again sometime in my future. But not for a while, because my resume is looking bleak with all the jobs I have worked. It might as well have Job Hopper at the top, to warn prospective employers.
I just started my first travel nurse assignment 2 weeks ago. I moved from CT to TX. I severely underestimated how lonely I would feel. I'm a labor & delivery nurse and I equate this feeling with a primip who arrives on the unit after all of her googling and Pinterest ideas stating "no...I don't want an epidural" and then cries and begs for one when she is truly in active labor. I thought I knew what lonely was...but I didn't! Pictures of my family made me happy at home but if I display them in my hotel they make me cry. It feels as if I died and I'm currently in purgatory. I actually feel silly for the amount of personal effects I brought that I have no room for.
CT to TX is a big move! If you want to try another assignment, you could always do something within maybe a four hour radius of home, and see if you can get your shifts in a row and go home for long weekends. And sometimes just knowing you can get in your car and go back anytime you want makes a huge difference. You could also plan your assignments around locations where you have friends or relatives, and even better if you can rent a room from them and avoid the whole hotel thing. Then you could always branch out further in the future once you have a few assignments under your belt. Good luck!
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Elaborate? I am dependent on gym equipment to maintain my muscle mass.
That's true about chains…I could try planet fitness or VASA, but that would likely limit one from rural assignments. Chains seem to exist in metros only.