Reassurance for a New Nurse

Dear FutureMe, Today marks the 6-month anniversary of starting your very first job as a Registered Nurse. I know times are tough now. You didn't get the job you wanted. You're at a place that doesn't exactly treat you the way you wish they would treat you. All the extra hours you put in without pay. All the criticism they give you for working extra hours. All the shortcuts they encourage you to take for the sake of finishing on time (even though it's dangerous for your patients). All the times they've pulled you aside to tell you that you're in the "real world" now and need to do whatever needs to be done to finish faster. You're starting to lose patience for the patients you care for (and you KNOW that is never safe!) And you're even at the point where you're feeling like nursing just isn't for you. The tears flow easily and frequently, and you have to fight your urge to quit on a daily basis. You feel as if you're hanging on your last bit of hope for your career, and you're hanging on with desperation trying to make it through your shifts night after night. You feel as though things just really SUCK right now. And yet at the same time, you feel guilty for being so miserable because you know how difficult it is for a new grad to find a job at this time. You've searched for a long time for a nursing job... And you didn't get one until 6 months after you graduated. So you keep telling yourself "Why am I complaining when I'm a step higher than I was before?" It's really difficult to write yourself words of encouragement in a time when you feel like there's little hope for things to get better. But I'm sending this to remind you that by taking things day by day and doing your best to just push through the hard times, there'll be a time when you will feel proud that you were able to push through. I hope that by the time you read this, you won't have already quit nursing as your profession. I hope that you've found a job that makes you happy... A job that reassures you that you've joined the right profession for you. Please don't let the sweat and tears break you down. You're a fighter. You've been through so much and have always been able to make it through the toughest times in your life. Please don't let this be the end of your fight. When you read this letter... If you're still employed at ABCD, feel PROUD that you made it this far and didn't quit. If you're no longer employed with ABCD and are currently employed elsewhere, feel HAPPY that you've found something better (because any place is better than ABCD!!!). And if you're no longer employed by ABCD and don't have a nursing position at all at this time, I hope that you still have found happiness in whatever path you've chosen for yourself. Stop selling yourself short. Be proud of your hard work. Be good to yourself. Take care of yourself and your well-being. Spending the next 40 years in a career that you've learned to hate is only going to make your heart grow weary. You have so much more potential than you give yourself credit for. So please wipe your tears away and know that even in your weakest moments, you're much stronger than you often feel you are. I hope these words of encouragement are helpful, as typing them seems to bring up both feelings of hope and misery. It's hard to listen to yourself when you have to write yourself a letter of encouragement. It's hard to believe everything in this letter. But just remember that it was typed with a mindset of KNOWING that you're not at rock bottom. Keep up the hard work. Remember to write yourself another letter of encouragement as soon as you read this. And remember to love yourself! And stop picking up your phone on your days off. Remember that you work 55+ hours a week and only get paid for 40 hours. You're overworked, very much underappreciated, and you'll never survive nursing if you don't give yourself time to recover and laugh the stress away on your time off!