cross-posted from: https://ani.social/post/4445760
I’m a nurse working shifts and sometimes 5 days without a pause and I still don’t know if I’m gonna take one of the 2 9 to 5 jobs my hospital system has offered. I’d earn less money, but I’m already 45 years old and I don’t know if I should call it quits and settle for a regular job 5 days a week and free weekends for the rest of my working life. Hustling in nursing is ok if you are in your 20s or 30s but in my 40s? I don’t see it.
I like the extras I get for working shifts but it’s taxing. I’ve been doing nursing for 6 years already and neither do I know how difficult is the transition going to be.
For me in a big city it’s the annoyance of always being a part of the crowd. My free time is the same as everyone else’s now so traffic is always terrible on my days off (weekends), stores are always packed before/after work. Even walking my dogs becomes annoying because every other dog in the neighborhood is outside too.
Thankfully I work from home so I try to get out and walk the dog during lunch; if I have any errand to run I can just take my lunch later when everyone else has gone back to the office.
The other hard part for me is the afternoons; they drag on endlesssly. As a night person waking up in the morning was just killer, but I’ve finally adapted after… 10 years.