A second-career nurse, at the age of 44 I finished what I started at 16, completing a degree in nursing. The life experience in between made me a better nurse than I could have possibly been at age 20.
When people hear I spent 20 years in journalism they ask "How did you get from that to being a nurse?" My answer is always that it is really the same skill set. An admission is an interview. You have to be able to read people and get them to tell you things they might not want to tell anyone. Those things led to discovering psych nursing. From there I moved through general medicine to hospice. Now I have my best job yet working in a metropolitan hospital helping people process tough healthcare challenges. Championing patient determination fills a void in acute care in addition to helping shift a culture that doesnt always handle news of poor outcomes as openly as it should with patients and families.
I am a runner. Training for half marathons is how I help myself recover from the emotional strain of the job.