The date I passed my Nurse Licensure Exam was exactly the same date I got a text message informing me that I got in. That is 5 years after. It must have been too long since most of my college batchmates are now residing abroad working as a Nurse. Obviously, too long since even some of them are now head nurses. And yes, definitely, too long because thanks to us, now they can resign and move forward to their dreams of working abroad.

 

Five years is a crazy long time to be lost in this journey of nursing career. Five years that got me plunged into different situations where I went from a volunteer nurse to an online job worker; then to a family planning medical provider; back again to volunteer nurse then some change of plans. I never thought I was going to be undecided for this long.

Shifting from time to time, a bit of Nursing and a few of online stuffs have indeed left me with a few things:

2011 – Trial and error is the only way for a JOB!

This was the year I had my first hospital experience as a Volunteer Nurse in the Emergency Room Department. Although I failed in this part of loosing my interest in the long run, mainly because of no salary; this was also the year when I had my first paid job as an online worker. Believe it or not, until now, my main source of income is still coming from my online job.

I know it’s unrelated but this was also the time my Nurse Germz website was born that has been inspiring a lot of Nurses and is the very reason why my passion of Nursing remains. A medium to remind me constantly that despite of what unrelated plans I have in mind, I will forever be NUrse Germz!

2012 – As A Community Nurse, How Far Can You Go?

I was hired as a Family Planning Medical provider travelling around Northern Mindanao, providing lectures and consultations, and meeting different walks of life. This was the year I truly had a “time of my life” since I got to travel anywhere, eat everything (haha, I gained 7 kilos), hop hotels and discover a lot of things. In fact, I never really knew I had the skill to talk in front of a huge crowd that would need me to joke around and even do some dramas. It might have ended short for just a year but it paved the way for me to rethink and reflect on things and what I really want.

2013 – 5 Stages You Undergo Before Finally Saying “I am a Registered Nurse”

After my Medical Provider job ended, I was back to volunteering in a Hospital. Same life I had in 2011 and as expected, I had the same ending.haha I wasn’t able to keep up with it because I had no job but again, this was the time when, I also got a stable online job. In fact, I’m still currently employed with the same employer. The pay is stable enough that I don’t need anymore to work as a nurse. But I had a different vision, instead I used it as a way of fulfilling my nursing journey.

2014 – 7 Questions Nurses Must Answer Before 2014

I again immersed myself to a different institution as a Volunteer Nurse but now with a focused goal, to work abroad. I took my IELTS and got certificates from the different hospitals I volunteered but everything was not enough. It seemed destiny was telling me that it wasn’t yet the right time. This, then pushed me to forego my longed goal the following year.

2015 – All you need is to take the first step!

Way back in 2012 in the middle of my Medical Provider Job, I was saving up for my hemodialysis training. I didn’t exactly know what happened and why it did not push through which took about three years long but it was this year when finally, I took the first step.

Why hemodialysis?

My first few experiences took place in the Emergency Department. Yes, the action was there, everyone sees me as “chui” “astig”, but as a newly passed RN, I longed for basic nursing skills. So, I transferred to ward, however, as I got the hang of all procedures, everything just became a routine. I was again in search for something that is still fully action-packed, yet a bit focused in a particular area that would not bore me in the long run. Then, I learned about Hemodialysis.

This was the very year I enrolled myself in hemodialysis training. Every journey is never easy but this was the first time when I didn’t give up and really made it to the end.

2016 – Hard Work Paves the Road to Success!

As soon as I ended my hemodialysis training, I right away passed applications to different hospitals and was blessed to get in. My only intention was to be affiliated in a hospital but it gave me more. And I can’t contain my emotions the time I heard “Hemodialysis Unit” as my assigned area.

It may seem scary throwing yourself out there, figuring out what you really want with the fear of being left behind but it doesn’t really matter. This is not a game as to who will win or succeed first, rather how you freely took the journey and how you sincerely learn and follow the rules. Win or loose, everyone gets to take home their own reward that is “learning” “lessons”.

It Took Me 5 Years To Finally Become a Staff Nurse but I regret nothing. Each year was an important point of my life, without those, I would have not become this fully grounded Nurse! So, go out and discover the nurse within you!