Travel nursing is great. Like really great. And know, when I say this, that includes the fact that I don’t actually like being a nurse. There are pros and cons to the job, but overarchingly, I’m not a fan. If I could redo my career, I’d study ecology or forestry. But travel nursing makes an OK career great. It allows me to do, not all, but a good chunk of things I love and my life is balanced once again.

One of the downsides to traveling is that your life is rather hectic. If you want a calm, predictable lifestyle, agency and travel nursing is not for you. Deadlines, competency testing, drugs tests, moving, living out of your car, and change, constant change with no consistency becomes your life. The focus becomes on survival. And I love it. It keeps me on my toes. It keeps me in the zone.

But sometimes Survival is arduous.

My goals. My beliefs. My standards. They all suffer when Survival becomes priority. I took this past week to refocus on those. I had to dig deep to figure out both the Survival part and the GBS part (Goals Beliefs Standards).

When I’m not travel nursing my life away, I quickly feel stuck in a rut, in a box, a box with walls I both don’t want in the first place and also can’t break. But I knew the longer my focus remained on the survival, sooner than later, I would be stuck in a similar box with similar unbreakable walls.

So while these are personal and I am honestly not looking for feedback or affirmation from any of my limited readers, here is my statement of alignment. Here I am, placing the Survival inside the GBS. The alignment of beliefs and actions. I write them down to make them real. I publish this to hold myself accountable to my beliefs.

Stabilize My Life

1. My relationship with God:
-Pray formally at least twice a day.
-Remember God more often.
-Thank God for food, life, good things.
-Read the Bible daily.

2. My relationship with others:
–See people for who they are, not what they can do for me physically or emotionally.
-Help someone daily. Help them with something THEY need or want, not what I think is good for them.

3. My relationship with myself:
-Practice and cultivate gratitude.
-Practice and cultivate joy.
-Make healthier decisions for my body and for my soul

Within these new stabilizers I have given up beef and other red meat. I have stopped drinking alcohol. I read during my lunch breaks instead of scrolling through my phone. I wake up at the same time every day. I finish my day by writing at least three things I’m grateful for. I pray. I go to the gym after work. I hike and rock climb every day I’m off work.

Within the two weeks of working on these, and I am more alert and aware. I am happier. I interact with others more honestly. I understand my own needs and wants more clearly. I am able to focus on the GBS more acutely. I am more me. I am more of the me I want to be.