Why Am I Even Still a Nurse?

For years, I have been struggling with the changes in the nursing field. I feel trapped in the career more than I feel satisfied, and yet, I stay.

I returned to university to become a counsellor and although I’ve reached that goal, it takes time to transition. Additionally, being a healthcare professional is more complex than many would believe.

This post is coming from a place of burnout and desire to leave a role that I no longer recognize. That said, to just up and leave is incredibly difficult.

If you are a nurse, physician, allied professional or someone who is just curious… maybe my words will paint a better understanding of the variables not everyone faces during career changes.

Identity

Have you ever heard the advice that your job should not be a piece of how you identify? Whoever put that message out into the world was not a nurse…

To be nurse for any length of time, you need to have a certain element of that role that resonates to your core. We need to naturally gravitate toward compassion, strength, and the ability to manage the responsibility that comes with the territory.

How those elements come to fruition is different from person to person, but they must be there to a certain degree.