What Am I Doing in This Place? When Who You Are and Who You Want to Be Collide: The Writer Becomes a Nurse, Then a Writer

photo by Sergey Nivens via Adobe Stock

Have you ever had the feeling you're in the wrong profession? I have. In fact, several years ago I attended a writer's conference at a university in New Jersey, and for weeks later castigated myself for giving up my pursuit of a writing career to become a nurse. 

The hours spent meeting and talking with other writers. The workshops that inspired me to go after my dream. The buzz of adrenaline that ran through my veins when I thought, "I can do this! I can be a writer!" All of it was wonderful. I was excited to be back at school, even for just a day. Walking the halls of that fine institution felt so right. I wanted to stay there, to be a part of it everyday. For years.

When reality hit on Monday morning I felt deflated, forlorn, a fraud when I had to put away my work-in-progress to attend to the needs of my patients. Second thoughts about my career choices hounded me: