NOC – The adjustment period

Maridav | Veer

I’d really like to know how long this “adjustment period” is going to take. My body’s had enough already!

Here’s a little bit of how I’m feeling now, two weeks in:

• My days seem a lot longer – on the bright side, time doesn’t fly by so quickly.
• I generally have NO IDEA what so ever what the date is, and most often, what day of the week it is.
• On that note, I also have a lot of trouble figuring out if I’m trying to say “tomorrow,” “tonight,” “yesterday,”  or “last night” because the day changes 4 hours into my shift but my mind is still back in yesterday… or, I mean, last night?
• My body hasn’t figured out when it’s supposed to sleep versus when it’s supposed to wake up.  This is more of an issue on my days off when I try to switch back to “normal” time. My brain says sleep but my body says stay up, and then I can’t ever wake up before 10:00 am to get anything done – even if I DID get to bed on time!
• I see a lot less of the sun – especially since daylight savings time. I enjoy my drive home for the bright crispy autumn days that we’ve been having (we’re actually getting seasonally appropriate weather here!), but I am a bit bittersweet about not getting to enjoy them more because I am asleep through most of it.
• I AM adjusting to more independence. At this phase in the training, my night shift preceptors are letting me do a majority of the work on my own, but are always there for me when I have questions. I’m finally starting to feel like a REAL nurse.  With emphasis on “starting to.”