So What Comes Next? Career and Life Planning as a Nurse

I am sitting on my bed after a long day of taking care of baby Kelly (which primarily involved watching him sleep in his electronically powered swing) thinking about what is going to happen in the next year that I have off from my full-time job on my maternity leave. As I stare into the sweetest, angelic face ever sleeping beside me I cannot help but think about what the next steps of my career are after I complete my Master's degree in 4 weeks and begin searching for casual work when my salary top-up ends in late May. 

I have mixed feelings about wanting to return to work so soon but at the same time I look forward to the challenge of finding a casual nursing position outside of my comfort zone of mental health and addictions and in a time of unsteady nursing waters following what I anticipate will be a lengthy contract negotiation by the BC Nurses Union. I am both excited and scared about the possibility that I will find I am going to begin an uphill struggle to enter the waters of medical/surgical nursing after choosing to enter mental health directly upon graduating 4 years ago. So, we shall see in 8 weeks how difficult or easy it is for me to book interviews and subsequently, to successfully obtain a position. Career changes can feel daunting and scary because we can get comfortable with our current position  (even if we don't particularly like it) because of familiarity. Jumping into something new headfirst can be a much-needed spark to reignite the career fire that stressors like moral distress put out. 

Leaving My Comfort Zone 

I am also both excited and scarede about the idea of leaving my comfort zone of mental health/addictions and the familiarity of Vancouver Coastal Health. But make no mistake, my first love will always be mental health and addictions.  

My husband just began his mental health rotation on a unit that I used to work on. I am excited that he is being exposed to my area of expertise. However, I am disappointed that the mental health rotation consists of just 10, 12 hour shifts. I constantly have to ask myself why mental health receives so little attention as a specialization in the Registered Nursing program. And so, I am making it my mission right now to write a commentary about this and submit it to the Canadian Nurse journal by the end of April. Perhaps this will be my vacation project when Kelly and I take our trip to Calgary in April. Wish me luck. 

Michelle D. 

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