Re-routing my professional life

For the last 18 years I have defined myself as a nurse. I lived, ate and breathed nursing. If I wasn't working as a nurse I was studying to further extend myself in my professional career as a nurse. Of course during the times that my children where little and still quite dependant on me I put my nursing career on hold, but never scratched it from my mind. After all, in my eyes there is no better profession in this world to belong too. I love caring for people and sharing in there most challenging times and trying to minimise the impact that their illness played in their life. There is no greater priviledge than to be able to look after someone when they cannot do it themselves. I feel blessed to be able to hold their hands and sometimes just being there with them is all they need, even in silence. They know they are not alone.

During my years as a Registered Nurse there were times when the profession became all too consuming, physically and emotionally. To care for someone and their family placed a huge strain on me emotionally. I took my responsibility to care for them very seriously and would only ever do my job 100%. I couldn't bare the thought of not making my patients feel as though each and every single one of them were Number 1. Hard work to do that. One of me ,and sometimes 8 of them in any given shift. When shifts ran well, they were so rewarding, you could continue on with your shift for hours. But when things went bad, as they do, as hospitals aren't always a place where people get better and go home - they went really bad. I wore the emotional side of my job too heavily.

Physically, I started off well. However after I had my twins some 14 yrs ago my back became an issue. It never really left me from the moment it reared its ugly head, it came in waves. However the last flair up left me quite crippled and I left my job due to sickness, but with the hopes that I would return some day. And that is what I did about a year later in a more sedentary position. I thought having gotten fitter I would be able to return to work, but this was not to be. Being on my feet and driving to and from work for close to an hour each way made my back flair up again. So I resigned and pondered on what was to be of my life. What was I going to do? Who was I going to be if I could not be a nurse? This was all I knew and I wasn't good at anything else, or so I thought.

During my time of getting fit and healthy I had people constantly telling me how I had inspired them to do get out there and take the bull by the horns. Even though I was just trying to live my life to the best of my ability I had touched people in a way I never thought possible. Quite a humbling experience I must say. I had never thought of myself as inspiring. But if people were telling me this, I needed to listen and take action. I needed to realise that I could still care for people just in a different concept. Rather than care for people in an illness setting I could focus on people before they get ill and help them to reach for all that they can be. I want to help people reclaim what they think they have lost, THEIR LIFE. I want to be a PERSONAL TRAINER.

I have already started making the necessary calls to start my Certificate III and IV through TAFE, and should I be accepted I start in June. I am very excited about joining this group of people who take their health and the health of others seriously. I look forward to seeing my clients achieve beyond what they ever thought imaginable. I look forward to seeing them feel the way I do, UNBELIEVEABLE.