Your nursing career can feel like many things: a busy airport, a bus terminal, a rickshaw ride, or a taxi careening the wrong way down a one-way street. But if your nursing career were an airport, and you’re readying your plane on the runway to take flight, what’s on your runway and who’s behind the controls?
Who’s in the Cockpit?
In terms of your nursing career airplane that’s ready for takeoff, who’s in the pilot seat? Who’s the co-pilot, and who are the flight attendants? Consider these questions:
- Is your inner career co-pilot a critical mother or overbearing father?
- Are your career choices controlled by an automatic pilot that won’t take no for an answer?
- Are your flight attendants busy making coffee when they should be securing the cabin and locking the doors?
- Is there so much emotional baggage in the overhead bins that your plane is too heavy to leave the ground?
- Is the engine of your career overdue for repairs so that the potential velocity of your craft won’t keep you earthbound?
The Baggage
We all bring baggage to the table of life, and your nursing career is just one of the places where that baggage accumulates. Meanwhile, your aforementioned overbearing father or critical mother can be like stowaways on the 747 of your nursing career, and when you contemplate your potential choices, do their voices echo in your head?
- “You should have been a doctor.”
- “Why did you waste your time on nursing school?”
- “Your brother went into the family business. Why didn’t you?”
- “You’re not smart enough to be a nurse.”
- “Nurses just put Band-Aids on booboos.”
Other obstacles might also hinder us. We may have had teachers in high school who questioned our intelligence, a boss who demeaned us, or a partner or spouse who abused us emotionally.
Sometimes, to move your career forward, you have to discard the baggage. You can manage this on your own under certain circumstances, but in some cases, a psychotherapist, coach, or other professional may be necessary.
Consider the Conditions for Flight
If your career runway is filled with emotional potholes, fading lines, and broken directional signals, maybe there’s some work to do to create the most fertile environment for success. Your inner air traffic controller may be on vacation, and the terminal may be closed for renovations, and that’s okay — time is your friend.
When getting ready for flight, you need a good mapping system, reliable air traffic control data, a safe runway, a solid plane, and a crew that can get you safely where you want to go.
If the fuselage is damaged, seek assistance in repairing it, and get help filling those emotional potholes. If your crew is missing in action, take your time in hiring a new, more reliable one (e.g., coach, therapist, friends, family, colleagues, etc.). And if you’re not ready for flight, stay grounded until the weather clears.
Take Off When the Time is Right
No matter what you think you want, the next step in your nursing career can only truly take flight when all favorable conditions are met. Be patient, be diligent, plan effectively, and ensure that your crew is well-equipped and available to support you when you need them most.
Prepare the runway, fuel up for the journey, and get excited about what can happen when the conditions are right and the equipment is in tip-top shape.
Ready to chart your own nursing career takeoff? Discover practical tools, tips, and strategies in Fast Facts for Making the Most of Your Career in Nursing. Get your copy today.
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