🇵🇭 FEATURE • When a Nurse Travels: The Life-Changing Moments

"I learned that I can also be the other nurse of me, 'nursing the tourism industry' applying the same method I learned in my work place. Indeed, life-changing to discover the other part of you without sacrificing a job."

Nurses are made not born, but travelers are born, not made. The urge to become a nurse can change by time. If compensation is not lucrative, some get frustrated. You study and undergo extensive training to become a nurse. For a traveler (I know every travel junkie can relate to this), you know you want to travel the very first time you knew that the "idea" of travel exists. By the way, you are currently reading the story of a nurse who travels because it is a part of his existence and an extension of his 5 senses.

[DARAGA] A leap of faith in Albay

That's the leap of faith! When a nurse travels, he can sacrifice some of his dreams in his life because he wants to travel. Although he continues his profession as a nurse, he has to give up some of his life's greatest dreams.

When a nurse travels, he knows how to manage his time, because his work requires him to work under pressure. A full-time nurse is expected to work under time pressure and work as quickly as possible with quality. He makes sure that he can give the best and quality care to his patients before the end of the shift.

So when he travels, expect him that this moment is life-changing for him because you know he can finish the itinerary however tight the time might be because tomorrow is another day of work again. He knows he only has a limited time and he needs to complete the list as quickly as possible without sacrifing the quality of the tour. He makes sure he can see all the details of the place before leaving it. Now he knows it is life-changing because he is applying his quality as a nurse during his travel.

His life changes for the mean time because he is not in his usual life at the hospital giving diazepam or phenobarbital to his epileptic patient.

[NAGA] A Leap of Faith in Naga

When a nurse travels, the term "first impression lasts" doesn't apply because the nurse-who-travels deals with different kinds of people daily, poor and rich, ordinary citizen to corrupt politicians, child and old, tall and short, male and female, subordinate and manager, fan and celebrity, humble and boastful, silent and talkative, debtor and creditor, buyer or businessman and all that! At first contact, the patient can be irritable and impatient but when a strong nurse-patient relationship is built, you know he is kind at heart. The silent patient can be shy at first, but being able to gain his trust, he will verbalize all his emotions and sicknesses to you. After the discharge of the patient, they need to come back for follow-up if improved or worsened.

So when he travels, he makes use of his eyes and heart wisely to appreciate even the ugliest scene on the road because  he knows the place is not permanent. At first glance it could be hideous in sight but the traveling nurse knows that when there is initiative, the ugly place could turn to paradise. He also makes sure to advocate the preservation of the beautiful places and culture he has seen and experienced because he knows they might turn to waste as he advocates health to his patient so that their wellness will not turn to illness. Now he knows it is life-changing because he is applying his quality as a nurse during his travel.

His life changes for the mean time because he is not in his usual life at the hospital assisting the surgeon while removing a multiple-fibroadenoma cyst at the breast of a woman while standing for 2 hours without a sitting break.

[SANTA MARIA] Pinsal Falls Adventure

A nurse who travels knows how to become flexible and be intellectual instead of becoming emotional while traveling. He knows that he can not please everybody even though he is doing his best to his patient. He receives some bad side comments although he knows he did the job from the heart. He knows how to deal with the situation although it could be disheartening.

So when he travels,  he uses his intellect rather than his emotion when he meets "bad" people along the road. There can be people who will misguide your directions or laugh at you because the clothes you are wearing is full of sweat or look down to your social status because you are riding on a jeep instead of a taxi. Well, really, he can not please everyone although he knows that what he is doing is part of the enjoyment of traveling - to experience what the person laughing at him is doing in his own place. The nurse who travels just wants to experience how to live like a local resident in that place.

His life changes for the mean time because he is not in his usual life at the hospital monitoring the blood pressure of a hypertensive patient.

When a nurse travels, he expects that trouble will arise along the road because in his work, trouble may arise anytime. A patient can turn critical anytime without any sign or symptoms, that's why, a nurse who travels is always ready for trouble along the road and can stay calm and stress-free.

So when he travels,  he considers trouble as part of the journey than being a misery itself. He knows how to stay calm with the situation and can still enjoy the place in spite of the circumstance.

His life changes for the mean time because he is not in his usual life at the hospital doing CPR to patient with cardiac arrest.

Lastly, When a nurse travels, he documents all the places where he has been as he documents all his assessments to his patients to their charts. The nurse who travels is always equipped with a pen, a notebook, a map, a bag or backpack and a camera to document his assessments to the place.

So when he travels, he documents both the positive and negative sides of his experiences and he blogs both conditions not to discourage tourists and travelers to get to the place but to inform the authority about those conditions with the confidence that they will give solutions to those problems. Because a nurse-who-travels reports both the good and bad assessments to the physician so that the physician will give the best medicine.

His life changes for the mean time because he is not in his usual life at the hospital inserting an intravenous line to a newborn with fragile and thin veins. 

[MAGSINGAL] Nurses Call the Shots

How traveling changed the life of a nurse: Before, I thought traveling was only for the people who just sits down the house all day, who are just waiting for the income to come without exerting some physical works and effort and all that - meaning, people who are ultra-fortunate in life, they don't work a lot, they just receive the luck and fortune and they are not busy. To sum it up, they are the "rich" class.

Ever since I was a child, I know by myself that I was born to love the art of traveling. Whenever I see my mom go out the house, I won't let her go without me because there was already a childhood compulsion that I need to go out of the house. But sometimes, she had to make sure that I am asleep so that she can escape.

When I started working, I know it won't be easy to escape the mandates of the profession to serve the community "selflessly" without thinking of your personal benefit or gratification because my profession deals with life.

Office girls and dudes can leave their paper works in the office undone and continue tomorrow but for us, we can not leave our job undone, we can not go home while seeing our patient dying. We can not insist for a vacation leave knowing that our services for that certain time is needed to save the lives of 5 old women, 3 infants, 2 pregnant women with bleeding condition, 2 teen-agers who are going to graduate in high school and 1 spoiled brat who is the only child of Juan de la Cruz whose wife can longer bear another child.

That's it! That's how challenging the profession I have chosen. Because of my encounters at the medical setting, I learned a lot of things when I insisted to travel despite of budget and time predicaments.

The other year, I was working as a nurse and study at the School of Law at the same time during the night. It was not a good idea. It curtailed my happiness. 

I had no time for myself. I even didn't open my facebook account for a week as an effect of being toxic man-on-the-rush all the time so I decided to stop studying at the law school (temporarily) in pursuit of happiness. I know I always wanted to become a lawyer but to be able to do that, I have to sacrifice the other one, it is between happiness or my work so that I can focus.

Of course I need my work to finance my hobby. Traveling and blogging are my girlfriends (two-timer) and if I will choose my work and the "school," that would kick out my girlfriends. I love my girlfriends very much and I have to give up the law school.
 

[SAN QUINTIN] Nurse-Rider in Abra

So I came up with a story that changed my life while being a nurse and a travel blogger/travel lover.

The bottomline is that, when I started traveling in spite of being a busy full-time nurse, I learned that I can also be the other nurse of me, "nursing the tourism industry" applying the same method I learned in my work place. Indeed, life-changing to discover the other part of you without sacrificing a job (for now, hehe).

For now, I know I want to be a lawyer too, but at this moment, I know my priorities and I am happy that somehow, traveling changed my life.

This article is EDMARATION #TownExplorer's official entry to the Pinoy Travel Bloggers' Blog Carnival for the month of March with the theme: Leap of Faith: When Traveling Changed my Life hosted by Reiza Dejito of Wander if You Must. /end

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