How many of you actually enjoy your job?!

1 Hi All!

I am a brand new nursing student, and I was instructed to join allnurses.com for a class. Now, as you can expect I have this picture of my head when it comes to nursing of helping others, having awesome co workers, and just having an awesome job in general! I understand that it is not always sunshine and rainbows, but I hope the good will outweigh the bad that could possibly happen. This is why I decided to become a nurse, but coming onto this website scares me! All of the threads I see are titled "I hate my job", "I should not be a nurse", "My co workers hate me", and things like that. It seems to me like these are all new nurses just starting out and still trying to find there way in the nursing world, but all of these posts are very intimidating to someone who will be in their shoes in just a few short years. So, I guess this brings me back to my original question. How many of you actually enjoy your job?
People who are happy with their situations are much less likely to spend time posting about it online. Keep that in mind. I mean...if you get alone with all of your coworkers, there's not need to come here and ask for advice on how to deal with them. I love my job and I hate my job, simultaneously. So there's also that option.

Overall I enjoy my jobs. I love teaching patients and students. I love working in primary care. Seeing patients grow and change is amazing. Sure there are LOTS of difficult patients/families that I cringe knowing I'll have to deal with or students I just want to shake some sense into, but overall I like it. I don't like my employers decisions. One place requires we attend meetings, but doesn't pay me for my time there (I refuse to attend them). The other has decreased my benefit options, increased my out of pocket costs for everything, and BARELY gives me a raise. Yet the CEO & CFO are getting new bonuses and just received a decent raise. Those are the things that weigh on me the most.

I like my work, but work is work and I wish it were "happy fun time" instead.

Working as a nurse is much different than how it was as a student. You students have much more time to spend with the patients, and of course much less stress. My jobs as an RN have been okay, but it's not exactly how I'd envisioned. Do I enjoy my job? I make an effort to enjoy any job I do. If it's insufferable, then I find a new one. All in all, it's just ok.

I have learned to transcend my nursing practice to love nursing, more than love my job.I have worked in dumps-there are out there-and have enjoyed my interventions and interactions with my patient population. I love to teach pts, nursing students and new nurses; and have done it all; I'm in the process of learning a new specialty and practice, and I go to work with a purpose of success; I also have learned to soak up anything and everything like a sponge and be prepared for anything and EVERYTHING to happen; that keeps me grounded in reality, as well as who I am in terms of responding to changes and challenges.I look at "what is the best that I can do?" in terms of responding to challenges-practicing mindfulness and advocating for myself has helped me in situations, as well as success in my career.Remember, nurses do a lot, simplistically speaking; however, the skill set of a nurse is a force to be reckoned with; we have the knowledge and must know what the provider knows and THEN some. We have to advocate and we have opportunities to make policies and have a seat at the table to help with decision making (at least in my experience) We work hard; we work with the most vulnerable populations, we deal with the most intimate situations, we teach, we must think on our feet and sometimes are exposed to any and everything, and deal with challenging personalities from our patients, their family/significant others to even our peers; as long as you have that reminder to keep you grounded and practice advocacy and empowerment for yourself, along with building what I call the 3Cs: Competency, Consistency and Confidence into your practice, no matter where you work, you will be able to handle any challenge that comes your way.Best wishes.

I think that much of what you see here is people that need to vent. It's a place where they can find people who "get it". Our spouses, friends, and other family don't, unless they are also nurses. That said, I love my job most of the time. I love that I get to help people, comfort people, and do everything I get to do. Some days, I think I would be much better off had I gone in a different direction with my career. Nursing is not all sunshine and rainbows. Nurses work hard, aren't always appreciated for what we do, and some things we have to do are very unpleasant. When I'm having one of those days I remind myself that it's called "work" for a reason and there is a reason I get paid for what I do.

Quote from kwerno00Hi All!I am a brand new nursing student, and I was instructed to join allnurses.com for a class.

Quote from kwerno00Hi All!I am a brand new nursing student, and I was instructed to join allnurses.com for a class.

I love my job everyday, I don't love the documentation demands but I do it without hating it because, frankly it is work not my holdiay.

You have to understand that people will more often complain than they will praise. It's a way to vent. There are some very legitimate posts on here that question whether someone should be a nurse or not, but if you read through the comments it's usually just a normal reaction we have to stressful event's, because well, being a nurse is stressful at times.I love my job... do I complain? OF COURSE! Who else can us nurses complain to? I think AN has been my saving grace at times letting me know I'm not alone.

I hate my job. And there are individual moments at work that make my life worth living. It all comes out in the wash.

I love mine; of course every profession has its bad days. But I keep working even though I don't have to, if that tells you anything. I love being able to help a patient and their family on, as one of my daughter's friends' mother put it, "on the worst day of their life." Seeing people get better is a joy, and being there for the family when they don't is an honor. I agree with the other posters though, that people are more likely to post about their frustrations than about their contentment.Welcome to AN!