Grace The Nurse

I saw this WordPress writing prompt and had to answer. The one thing all people should know or understand:

Life is short….enjoy life!

Yes I know – very cliche. I have lived by this adage since my early 20’s after a night shift that changed how I viewed work and life.

As a newer RN, I enjoyed working night shift (7pm – 7am…yeah!!). One night shift, I was assessing a recently admitted patient who had a heart attack. As I was obtaining his vital signs and doing my physical assessment, the patient grabbed my wrist and asked me, “How old are you?” At the time, I was 24. He asked if I was doing any traveling, and I said no. Back then, I only thought of working, socializing locally or staying home.

He then said that he and his wife worked hard all their lives and never went on vacation. Their goal was to save enough money so they could travel when they retired. About a year after they both retired, his wife had a stroke and he had a heart attack. His wife was greatly affected by the stroke, and he ended up taking care of his wife. Then he had a heart attack and was now worried about taking care of himself and his wife.

He continued holding my wrist, and what he told me next changed my life. He said, “You’re young and healthy. Don’t work so much. Go out and enjoy life and travel. Look at me and my wife – we both worked all our lives and waited to travel, and now we can’t. You have your whole life to work. Work will always be around. Just enjoy life.”

I spent quite a while speaking with him. Unfortunately I don’t know what happened to him because I was off for a few days after that night. I remember getting home that morning thinking about what he said. Unfortunately I didn’t heed his advice and continued with just working and going home. I wasn’t happy, but I didn’t know any other way to live. I continued this way for about 8 years after I met that patient.

A few years later, though, I randomly remembered what that patient told me and decided to pursue travel nursing. I went to California all by myself and met other travel nurses who loved the travel and were enjoying life. Work was not the focus but was a means to enjoying what each city in which we traveled had to offer.

Even though I was still working as a nurse, I changed my focus from working as many hours as possible to enjoying life and traveling. I was much happier yet was still earning a comfortable income. Even though I am no longer travel nursing, I always make sure to keep a healthy work/life balance and focus on enjoying life and my free time.

If you have read my post to the end, I will pass onto you what that patient told me back then, “Life is short. Enjoy life!”