What have you been working on?
These two things are relative. I am working on the second thing this year that has brought me outside of my comfort zone.
The first thing which I accomplished in the spring was a nationally recognized certification exam in my area of nursing. Studying for the exam was a brutal yet rewarding experience. It gave me sense of purpose that I long for when I see my early twenty something children glued to their laptops to complete assignments for their degrees.
Shortly before I took the certification exam my husband and I were given two free tickets to Brit Floyd, a Pink Floyd tribute band. The concert was amazing and the music resonated into my soul and into the last remaining brain cells I had left. The music saved me and a week later I passed the certification exam. I’ll never forget that concert.
The thing that I am currently working on which is the second thing that’s dragging me way outside of my comfort zone is a project for my hospital’s Clinical Advancement Program. My project is to create a teaching module for my department’s yearly competencies on an emergent anesthesia complication called Malignant Hyperthermia. I was inspired to do my project on this topic because it was one of the things I learned about for my exam and a topic that I found fascinating.
The project involves research, posters, creating scenarios, PowerPoint and writing. Going into to this, I felt rusty because I earned my BSN 12 years ago and haven’t done any projects or paper writing since then. I’ve realized though when I can turn my anxiety off and focus, I can actually conquer the tasks I didn’t think I could. Today I mastered putting my research into APA format for the first time in 12 years and my PowerPoint is coming along nicely. After our competencies are over with in early November I will have more research and writing to do. I know that I can do it though.
I’m getting there one step at a time and it feels good.
thatnursewrites 