Providing maintenance for your car may seem very unlike the maintenance of your nursing career, but these two important processes may have more in common than you think. Both your car and your nursing career are vehicles for getting you from one place to another, and a car in disrepair can’t be as reliable or take you as far as one that’s well-maintained and in tip-top shape. How are you maintaining your nursing career?
Maintaining the Vehicle of Your Career
If we examine your nursing career, we can imagine it as a metaphor for a car. One thing we do with our cars is look under the hood to make sure that everything is running smoothly. Some of us may not know much about cars, but the least we can do is check the oil, see if there’s enough windshield washer fluid, and maybe take a peek at the air filter (if it’s not too complicated to access, like some new cars seem to be).
Oil lubricates the moving parts of your car’s engine; without oil, many of those parts will create massive friction and heat, meltdown, or eventually stop working. As all vehicle owners know, changing the oil regularly is crucial to your car’s long-term well-being; after all, old and dirty oil is almost as bad as running out of oil altogether.
This concept applies to your nursing career, too. There are many ways to lubricate your career, including continuing education, independent study, attending conferences, networking, joining professional associations, or anything else that provides inspiration and new ideas.
Boredom and stagnation are the enemies of career growth and personal and professional satisfaction. When the engine of your career seizes up from a lack of stimulation (lubrication), things stop working well, and your career begins to feel like it’s going nowhere (likely because it is).
When you look under the hood of your car, only some things there may make sense. However, looking under the hood of your nursing career should feel familiar, and knowing how to get things moving more smoothly should feel like less of a stretch than fixing your car (unless you happen to be one of those laypeople who genuinely understand the workings of the 21st-century automobile).
Addressing the Dents and Dings
Have you ever seen a car that’s loved? The metal gleams, the paint job is perfect, the interior is clean, and everything works perfectly. Little dents and dings aren’t allowed to remain that way, rips in the upholstery are quickly repaired, and even the tires look clean. The car’s engine is clean, well-lubricated, and perfectly maintained, and the car basically purrs like a happy kitten.
An idle car in a lot or your driveway can quickly become junk. Your nursing career is no different. An idle, stagnant career can soon become a professional path you don’t care much about and do little to change or improve.
As your career stalls, the mice of doubt feast on the wiring that keeps you engaged and interested. And then, one day, you wake up and realize that the career you worked so hard for is no longer viable, and you notice that you’re even more unhappy and dissatisfied than you thought.
Considering your career, do you change the oil regularly? Do you address the dents and dings of disappointment and unhappiness? Do you wash and wax the exterior and vacuum the interior?
Getting From One Place to Another
As mentioned above, your car and your nursing career are vehicles for getting you from one place to another, and the quality of your vehicle and how you care for it can have an outsized impact on the outcome of your journey.
If you want to change careers, you can’t just put an ad in the paper or call the dealer. A change in career means going back to school, obtaining more training, learning new skills, accumulating new knowledge, or otherwise doing a lot of retooling and recalibrating. Yes, people constantly change careers, but we all understand that it’s not as simple as just getting another car.
Your career is a high-value possession that, like a custom car, didn’t come into your life quickly; you had to earn it. You worked hard to get where you are, and no matter how many dents and dings you’ve suffered, no matter how many miles you’ve run, it’s your professional vehicle that’s worth washing, waxing, vacuuming, and taking in for an oil change and tire rotation regularly.
Take good care of your career like you would a classic car, and it might take you further than you ever imagined.
