The great perils and rewards of speaking up

Blogging is a fairly recent form of social/political/professional communication. By “recent,” I mean since computers and smart phones became an indispensable part of daily life.

Why do nurses blog, anyway?

Most modern nurses use a computer at some point every day, whether at home, work or school. If you follow Scrubs Magazine or any other nursing site, you are aware of the wide scope of issues which nurses face. Online is where nurses can share their many opinions with each other to hopefully improve the profession and also lift their spirits in connecting with their community.

The great peril in speaking up

On any site where comments are invited, including Scrubs, you may notice a login name is required along with perhaps a bit of voluntary information. Know that what you create and share is up to you.

Be warned! You are in a sense putting yourself in great peril by speaking up: to your job, reputation and even your license, because employers, schools, families and law enforcement also look at these sites.

Many nurses choose to keep their true identity anonymous when they choose their usernames. This way you can feel a certain level of safety. You can get things off your chest with fellow nurses without giving away your real identity, as long as you are careful not to be too specific with people and places.

The benefits of staying connected

Nurses blog and join nursing sites because no one else understands better than another nurse!

Most of us gave up trying to share about our workdays with our families and significant others (unless, of course, they ALSO happen to work in healthcare!). They simply will never understand HOW or WHY we keep doing what we love to do!

How many times have we all heard someone else say: “I could NEVER be a nurse!” or, “How CAN you stand to do and see all of this every day?”

Kind of discouraging, isn’t it?

And yet, in spite of everything, there are those among us who DO keep going and doing what we love and feel that we are called to do every day. We need to support each other in this – at work and in our communities whether online or off – because it’s not easy sometimes making this choice.

When you’ve had a rough day, it can make a huge difference when no one around you seems to get it – until the person on the other end of a comment thread does!

Your profession is not simply what brings home your paycheck, your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling (Vincent van Gogh).