10/16/2026
Life is absolutely insane right now. We’re moving. Our daughter just started pre-k. Our 17 year old dog has likely a month or 2 left if we’re lucky.
But.
We’re here.
We’re making the big changes.
Making the big decisions to make sure our family is first.
And I’ve learned a lot about myself in the mean time.
I have to care for my mental health if I want to be present for my family.
I’ve done A LOT of self reflection in the last year.
About how my circumstances and experiences created my responses and triggers to the world around me. About how a career in emergency nursing enforces those trauma responses, such as compartmentalizing, hypervigilance, hyper-independence, and carrying things that are not yours to carry! And I burned out. After 15 years of bedside nursing my body started telling me, you can’t do this anymore. And I was lost. Because it becomes part of your identity.
So I turned it into this. Because I still care deeply, because I still want to be hands on with patients, because I enjoy meeting people and hearing about their lives.
I’m not sure why I’m sharing this. Other than I feel so deeply for other nurses as well. And I want you to know, in a system that will tell you that you somehow need to do more with less- 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎.
You can be an incredible nurse and still be burned out. You can love your patients and still need a change. You can be grateful for your career and still recognize that it’s costing you too much.
And there is life beyond the bedside. There are other ways to use your knowledge, your experience, and your heart. You are allowed to build a life that takes care of you, too.
Happy emergency nurses week to the people and career that shaped who I am 🫶🏻
