A Moving Target
The center of your nursing career---the place at which you find your deepest satisfaction and soul work---is indeed a moving target. When you first graduate from nursing school, your satisfaction may come from performing your first catheterization or central line dressing change; the novice nurse derives great satisfaction from mastering skills and knowledge, and that is as it should be.
As you move deeper into your career, skills-based learning may feel less satisfying in some ways, depending on your area of practice and specialization. If you approach your clinical work with sincere curiosity and interest, amassing new skills and knowledge may be enough for you, and there may also be times when some new types of experience are called for in order to hold your interest.
Being a staff nurse may work for a while, but you may feel the need to serve as Charge, or move into management, administration, research, education, or entrepreneurship. If your body begins to suffer from the rigors of floor nursing, a desk job may seem very attractive.
The moving target of your career and professional (and personal) happiness is such as it is by necessity; careers do not naturally stagnate, although some of us fall into professional stagnation by dint of boredom, ennui, intellectual laziness, or simply an attachment to what's most comfortable coupled with (reasonable or unreasonable) fear of the unknown.
Zeroing In
Zeroing in on what makes you tick is an important and ongoing process. In the first years of your nursing career, certain types of experiences will make you happy and keep you fulfilled; as both your professional and personal lives morph over time, your needs as a healthcare professional will also change.
If you get married, have children, suffer personal loss, or live with physical, psychiatric, emotional, or spiritual challenges, your needs vis-a-vis your career will change. As a nursing mother, you may choose to work one weekend a month while you raise your children; if your parent is in hospice, you may need to alter your workstyle to fit your lifestyle. And if you go back to school or otherwise change your life, work must adapt apace.
You must always be assessing how you are (or are not) zeroing in on what you want and what will make you happy, both personally and professionally. Last year, simply showing up for your shifts and not harming any patients in the course of your work might have seemed like enough; however, at this time, you may feel the need for new challenges, opportunities for growth, and the means to develop as a person.
Zeroing in is not a one-time event; it's a lifelong process.
Your Center
You find your center as a nurse and as a human being by understanding yourself, your dreams, your motivations, your fears, and your desires. What makes you tick? What makes life and work feel meaningful? What gets you out of bed every morning, and what gets you through the day?
Your emotional and spiritual center at 22 years of age will likely be wildly different than when you're 52; and that 52-year-old self will naturally have different needs than your 82-year-old self. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a psychological model that consistently holds water; understand where you are on that hierarchy, and feed the part of yourself that's hungry.
Find the center of your life and you'll likely find the center of your career. Find the center of your desires and motivations, and you'll make choices that are meaningful and life-enhancing. Understand the needs that are making themselves known in your heart, mind, and soul, and you'll have a notion of what to do and where to go next. Rather than make choices based on what others are telling you is best, make them based on what you need for your personal and professional development.
Find your center today, tomorrow, next month, and in ten years. It's a moving target, and it's worthy of always keeping your eye on the ball.
----------
Keith is co-host of RNFMRadio.com, a wildly popular nursing podcast; he also hosts The Nurse Keith Show, his own podcast focused on career advice and inspiration for nurses.
A widely published nurse writer, Keith is the author of "Savvy Networking For Nurses: Getting Connected and Staying Connected in the 21st Century." He has also contributed chapters to a number of books related to the nursing profession, and currently writes for MultiViews News Service, LPNtoBSNOnline.com, StaffGarden, AusMed, American Sentinel University, and Working Nurse Magazine.
Mr. Carlson brings a plethora of experience as a nurse thought leader, online nurse personality, holistic career coach, writer, and well-known successful nurse entrepreneur. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his lovely and talented wife, Mary Rives.
No comments:
Post a Comment