A Welcoming New Beginning!

Most of us are able to recognize valued crossroads in our lives. I have encountered a wonderful milestone which will NOT go on Facebook, LinkedIn or any social media sites. Most folks are "watchers", they are nosy, they are snooping, busy-bodies and they are not truly interested.  This is a simple truth.

Another reason why I will not "social media" this new milestone is because it may come across as boasting, which can cause others to feel bad. That is not the intended effect that my brand promotes.

After having early retired four (4) years ago, through the good and wonderful grace of God, I have finally arrived at an ideal place.  I have decided to not work full time.  Organizations today have extensive and complex needs. The work demands exceed the 1 FTE for the type of position I held.  Hence, I recently experienced over 18 months without time off with one organization.  That was the icing on the cake!  Enough of that type of profound work-life imbalance.

Earlier this year, I taught part time... very nice!  But, the onboarding process and other issues were concerning to my brand.  It should have been an ideal arrangement, but things happen. Plus I got a bird's eye view and insight into that environment. Quite interesting.

Since March, I have really enjoyed full retirement. I have been able to catch up with about 6 years of house work, spring cleaning, home repairs and home upgrades in just 3 months!  I have also continued to perform major accreditations and attend various educational conferences... WITHOUT taking along my laptop to do work!

In such a short time, I caught up with major home projects. so I set out to enhance my retirement with consistent part time work.  The past month  has been quite an enriching and wonderful journey.  Unbeknownst to me, this journey actually went back 7 full years!

When I worked at County Hospital, I was briefly assigned to a medical research department. The research nurse who trained me was unlike any other person I had ever worked with at the County!  Soft-spoken, intelligent, patient, professional and very kind.  I worked with her briefly as soon I was now prepared to carry out a HUGE pharmaceutical research study back in my own department. The brief time that we worked together was so wonderful!  It was professional, advanced practice and collegial.  I had not seen this person in 7 years... until yesterday.  We had a wonderful meeting, teaching objectives and expectations were shared and discussed.  We both have high levels of expectations and quality.  She subsequently hired me.

I am looking forward to regular part time teaching. I have a passion for teaching nursing students, I invest a lot of time into developing future nurses as I am dedicated to quality patient care.  It starts in nursing school.  Glad to be here!

A new beginning, stemming from an unexpected and outstanding collegial working situation many years ago.  You know, there are GOOD things that come out of the Cook County healthcare system. 

Looking forward to this fresh new beginning!  Thanks be to God.