@offtheclocknurse: I don’t think I realized how much of my identity was tied to being a forensic nurse until I stopped being one. For four years, FNE/SANE nursing was the most meaningful work I had ever done. I wasn’t just going to work. I was advocating for patients during some of the worst moments of their lives. I was sitting with survivors. Believing them. Giving them choices. Helping them regain a little bit of control when so much had been taken from them. It was really hard. It was also the first time in my nursing career that I felt completely consumed by a sense of purpose. And eventually, that purpose came with a price I could no longer afford to pay. So I left bc I knew I needed to. But nobody really talks about what happens afterward. What do you do when you leave the job that made you feel like this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing? What happens when the thing that gave your career so much meaning is also the thing you had to walk away from to protect yourself? I found another job. One that allows me flexibility. One where I still help people. One that gives me a much healthier work/life balance. And I’m grateful for it. But sometimes I miss the person I was when my work felt like a calling. I miss that fire, caring so deeply... I miss feeling like every shift mattered in a way that was bigger than me. And I think that’s where I am right now: somewhere between knowing I shouldn't go back and not knowing what comes next. Maybe I’m not actually looking for another job.... Maybe I’m trying to figure out who I am when my career isn’t the thing giving me my sense of purpose. That’s a much harder question. So, for now, I’m letting myself be in the limbo. I don’t have to have the next chapter figured out. I don’t have to find another version of the job I loved. And I don’t have to be unhappy with the life I have just because I’m still searching for what comes next. Maybe the goal isn’t to find the exact same fire again. Maybe it’s to find a new one. #nurse #nursetok #nurses #forensicnurse

Offtheclocknurse

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Saturday 08 August 2026 19:38:59 GMT