Simple Reminders
When I first started out as a new grad, I worked on night shift. This switch from being a "day walker" to living the night life was an incredibly difficult adjustment for me. For one, I had always been an early riser. Every morning I would wake up at approximately 0600. In fact, I loved waking up early so much that I would purposely schedule myself for the 0800 classes in college. As soon as the sun came in through my window in the morning I felt a rush of energy and excitement for the day. I always felt that my brain worked best early in the morning. Now here I was, at the mercy of "doing my time" as a night shift new grad nurse. The first night I worked, I felt physically ill to my stomach at the end of my shift. I knew I was tired, I felt physically exhausted, but as soon as the sun touched my skin my body wanted to wake up for the day. I could feel my heart racing to try and stay up. There was a battle of exhaustion and fighting the urge to sleep that threw me i...