I’ve recently had a major shift in priorities and goals. This has resulted in some big changes I’m excited to share with you.

I LOVE my job at my hospital. I love love love it. I love the people, I love the culture, I feel very safe and very supported. Its been about 2 years since I took the leap and changed jobs from an ER nurse at a critical access hospital to an ICU/ER nurse at a much larger hospital much farther away. It’s been a decision I’ve never once regretted.

I came here to get ICU experience to further my career towards becoming a flight nurse. Many bases require 2-3 years of critical care experience. I’ve since gained that experience and I’ve even passed my CFRN (certified flight nurse exam). I’ve been patiently waiting for a job opening but sadly, it hasn’t panned out for me yet.

As we get closer to our debt free goal, our goals and dreams as a family have come into focus:

Craig and I really want to be able to purchase an acreage in the future. We’d like to have a few animals and a few out buildings and a couple acres of land. We want to stay in the area we currently live in. We are growing as a family and will eventually need to upgrade the size of our home as well.

We’d like to keep our home that we currently live in and either rent it out or host guests with Air BNB.

We want to be outrageously generous and give back to our community and those in need.

I want to give each of my nieces and nephews a significant contribution to their college education.

We want to travel the country with our kiddos, Carver wants to see every city on the Ticket to Ride board game map.

We’ve got some big dreams for our family. These goals require money. Sometimes dreams require sacrifice.

That being said, I’m leaving my most FAVORITE job I’ve ever had, (I’ll still stay PRN as nurses call it – that means as needed so I can pick up shifts), but I’ve signed a local travel contract and I’ll be starting as a travel nurse in a small emergency department.

The title of “travel nurse” is a bit deceiving, I really won’t be traveling that far. In fact, it’s closer to our home than my current job by about 15 minutes. My contract is 16 weeks so I’ll reevaluate where we are in June and make a decision from there.

This shift aligns with our long term family and financial goals but a little less with my long term career goals. This shift doesn’t move me closer to a helicopter or a flight nurse.

The travel nursing rates are pretty great right now. This shift takes our “debt free” date in January 2023 to October 2022 with a significant amount of savings to boot.

So this is my plan until June. After that, I have no idea. Maybe I’ll continue at the facility I’m traveling to, (that’s pretty common practice to re-sign a contract with the same facility). Maybe I’ll just pick up shifts (like 2-3 a week) at my current job, maybe I’ll look for another contract, or maybe a flight nurse position will become available!

One thing I want to make crystal clear is that I sincerely love and appreciate my hospital. I love love love it. The people, the leadership, the opportunities I’ve had have all been top notch and I would recommend ANYONE to come work for our unit. It’s just not the perfect fit for our family in this season.

I LOVE the nursing profession for this reason, it’s so flexible, it has so much variety, I control how much or how little I work, it’s never too late to try something new! I’ve still got OB and PICU on my bucket list of specialties I want to try!

Hungry for more? Check out my latest posts!

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• May 2023 – Quilter and Cross Stitch Tee Launch!
• The Text Message
• Family Pictures!
• Bike Adventures – April 2023!

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