The meaning in the work

During Nurses’ Week, organizations try to recognize the role nurses play in healthcare. But recognition can feel complicated — because no gift, lunch, or slogan can fully capture what this work demands. 

But what if we didn’t have to rely on the organizations we are part of to feel supported and purposeful? What if celebrating ourselves can not only make us feel great but also protect us from burning out?

I am lucky to be a nurse. Sure, there are times that it wears me down, when I don’t know if I can ground myself in empathy anymore, when I am soooooo tired.

But, as I remind myself, this is why they call it work. Even if it is a vocation, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t also work, work that has tedious, difficult parts. 

As I reflect on this during nurses’ week, I reflect on all the hard work I have done to get to where I am: the struggle of nursing school (without any real use of the internet, somehow), the baptism by fire of my first job on a busy ortho and surgical floor, working while starting a family and raising kids, going through grad school and navigating one of the first hybrid online programs- complete with all the fun of a poorly integrated platform, graduating as an NP and creating a new role in my practice, embracing the nuances of a pain management specialty, becoming a nurse coach and starting a business.

None of that was easy, and much of it is not unique to me. This is what many nursing careers look like. Sure, you can switch out the timeline or the specialty, but becoming a nurse and staying a nurse is challenging. 

But this is only the scaffolding of the story, the underlying matrix of learning, hardship, accomplishment, fatigue, and persistence. It doesn’t even touch on what being a nurse entails or on the integration of task and purpose. 

This is my 30th anniversary as a nurse, my 20th anniversary as an NP.  Saying this blows my mind. I have dedicated my life not to a job but to actively helping others. 

In a world full of negativity and self-doubt, this is worth holding onto. Doing one thing to help someone else is valuable. Doing one thing every single day is valuable. Then multiply this by the number of patients over decades. Think of their families and friends. Think of their coworkers. 

This doesn’t just apply to times of deep connection or support, or the times of rapid decision-making or saving someone’s life. This applies to the mundane things too: calling someone to explain test results, educating patients about medications, documenting carefully and thoroughly.

And then there are the moments that stay with you — comforting someone in suffering, sitting with fear or grief, listening to words no one else was willing or able to hear.

The work is meaningful. 

I want my life to have meaning. 

This is the reward of being a nurse.

This year for Nurses’ Week, I invite you to celebrate yourself.  

Celebrate all the amazing people you have been blessed to work with. 

Celebrate all the people you have helped in big ways or small. 

Celebrate all the work you have done to get to where you are. 

Celebrate the younger version of yourself who didn’t know what she was getting into but did the work anyway.

The world needs people who work in all capacities- I am happy I picked nursing, or that nursing picked me.

Happy Nurses’ Week

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If you’re a nurse feeling burned out, stuck, or disconnected from the meaning in your work, I offer 1:1 coaching to help you reconnect with yourself and your purpose. Reach out today Megan@NursingBeyondTheJob.com to learn more and get started.