Latest Life Updates

Hey everybody!

Just wanted to drop in and give a quick life update, since it’s apparently been a hot minute since I’ve written anything here (yeah, life gets busy sometimes, don’t it?)

Quite honestly, my life has consisted of working night shift with my little preemie babies. The babies are my absolute favorite, but I’m honestly not a fan of working night shift. The pay differential is good and the coworkers are second to none, but having to constantly flip my sleep schedule is taking a nasty toll on my physical and mental health. I’ve worked night shift before at my previous hospital – with the same results – and can definitely say that the night shift life isn’t for me. Hoping and praying to get a day shift position sometime soon.

It’s been nice to be in a work environment where I can reinvent myself, so to speak, as someone who is a bit more confident in her skills as a nurse (my last place was rather toxic, honestly). I don’t want to sound conceited, but it’s nice to be somewhere that recognizes my years of experience and training and actually lets me be a “grown-up” nurse instead of bullying and telling me to my face that they don’t trust me (like I said, toxic). This newfound trust has pushed me to strengthen my skills and grow as a nurse. I’ve gotten to learn and do more experienced stuff, and have even begun the process to become a preceptor and train new nurses! Definitely looking forward to the new year as a NICU nurse!

I’ve recently begun attending a new church near my apartment; well, not new to the area, but new to me. I’d been attending a different church for a while now, but have been a bit disappointed that there wasn’t really anything to do except Sunday service and Bible study, both of which were difficult for me to attend due to my work schedule. At the advice of my dad, I checked out a different church in the area which was reputed to be very thriving and active, and from the first visit I was hooked! The biggest difference from my previous church has been that there are so many different things to do and ministries in which I can participate, and so many people around my age. I am looking forward to learning more about different Bible study and ministry opportunities, and maybe even making some new friends!

Speaking of friends, for a while now I’ve been playing a game of missed connections between myself and another young woman who goes to this new church, but we haven’t seemed to be able to meet up yet. This young woman is a coworker of my dad’s and is reported to be a wonderful friends candidate. We’ve texted a bit, but our work schedules never seem to allow us to both be at church at the same time. This young woman also comes with two more potential friends, and I hope that we can eventually work something out and actually meet up for coffee or something! In all honesty, making friends is difficult when your life consists of work and sleep – hoping day shift can help with scheduling meetups / adventures / etc. with potential new friends.

Having now been living in Tennessee for a full year, I can definitely say that I love it here. There have been some culture shocks and adjustments made, but I’ve still enjoyed myself immensely. I’ve got a big list of things I want to do and places I want to visit (for example – I’ve never been to Florida!) and so we’ll see what happens in the coming year!