The Story Behind the Name- "The Frontier Nurse"

Why the name "The Frontier Nurse" you might ask? Long story short- I found it a lot catchier than "The Country-girl Writer ADHD Nurse Mom" 😆

I have been on a very interesting journey of self-discovery the past several years. There are a lot of things I learned about myself that I was quite surprised by. 😮 However, what I've been learning is that many of those "surprising" things actually make a lot of sense when I looked at it from the right perspective or gathered more information about where I came from!

Wow! I can't tell you how relieved I've been to discover that many of my struggles I've faced the past few years are really not that unusual or foreign for most humans, but especially not those from my family line! 🤪 Crazy can be hereditary! ((My Mom will think that's funny, if no one else will! (NOT INTENDED TO BE A "MOM JOKE"!!!)) 🤣

Disclaimer: Humor only we appreciate might also be a family trait!!!

Ok...enough of that! Back to my point, the thing I often struggle getting to...haha! It's been quite liberating to know that the "apple didn't fall far from the tree" in many ways in my case! That can either depress me or encourage me depending on the day which makes more sense when I can acknowledge (and accept) that it's part of how I'm wired and I came by it quite legitimately.

Since starting my family👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 I've found it increasingly difficult to stay on top of "normal" life things and particularly routine maintenance stuff. This was a big problem for this "high-standards and expectations of myself" lady who thought moving to a new place, becoming an ER nurse and starting a family shouldn't be this hard!!!

I've had issues with pretty severe hormonal changes and symptoms revolved around my three pregnancies in the past 6 years. My stress levels were high while working in fairly high intensity environments like the ED and L&D. I have had surgery twice with really unpleasant recoveries twice since having babies. We also moved 4 times in the first 2ish years of marriage, and I've had now had 6 different employers in the almost 8 years we've been married. One might say it could be understandable why I crashed and burned pretty hard after COVID came on the scene. I was pretty maxed out before the pandemic.

In hindsight, always much clearer, I'm a little surprised it didn't happen sooner. But when you are in the moment and don't really know any different, it can be hard to see what changes need to take place. There is also this phenomenon that exists where many of us don't learn a lesson without going through the challenge ourselves and getting the experience first-hand.

I'm also not saying I would change much-probably a few things and hopefully my attitude and stubborn pride 😤, but overall I wouldn't want to take away most of the hard stuff because that's where my growth happened!!! It's also what developed me into the "Frontier Nurse."

I have so, so many crazy and sometimes unbelievable stories-the stuff you can't make up because no one would believe it anyway! Many of those I want to or have or will share! I now have 12+ years of mostly rural health care experience that will only continue to benefit me, my career and those I serve. I'm a small town girl who just wants to do the best I can to help whomever I can with what I've been given!

Some days that means taking a day off to take care of my family and knowing work will still be there when I get back (but my sanity might NOT be at stakebif i don't!) It means continuing to take care of myself so I can help others. (Nurses aren't great at this!) For a few years it meant sleeping 4-5 hours between 12hr+ shifts and driving 90 minutes one direction to work to try to balance working full-time out of town with small kids and supporting a family.

But that wasn't sustainable forever, which I knew going in. But once you set that pace, it can be really hard to gradually pull back. It sometimes takes a very unpleasant, screeching halt to force change that ultimately needs to happen. It doesn't always have to be this dramatic, and I'm hoping to recognize signals sooner that prevent that in the future!

Writing has been a passion of mine and something that has benefitted my mental, emotional and spiritual health since I was a kid.

I remember that in 3rd grade I wanted to be an author or poet when I grew up. I kept a journal from about the 5th grade on. I didn't realize how therapeutic it was for me until I didn't keep up with writing as much in my adulthood. So here I am rediscovering parts of myself I need not neglect moving forward, and hence "The Frontier Nurse" was birthed!!!!