My dream job is over.

Covid created some unique jobs and now the cruise ship job is over.

I’m asking myself,

What’s next?

I’m grateful that I had my job as a covid swabber on a cruise ship. It allowed me to work all over the world.

My dream job taught me a lot about what I want in my next job.

Now that I’m back at home, I’m taking a pause to think about what my dream job taught me and what is the next job that I want to have.

I love being around water. I loved waking up on the ocean. I loved being able to go different places. I loved having free time every day to do what I wanted to do. I loved having an easy job that didn’t have a lot of stress. I loved cruising. I loved getting paid to travel the world.

I know that I want my next job, not to be in a hospital. I used to love being a bedside nurse, but that love has faded in the past few years. Bedside nursing can’t provide me with any of the things that I know I love to do.

As I’m looking for healthcare jobs, I’m finding that most promise some good things but in reality, they can’t deliver those good things.

One job stated to apply if you wanted a work/life balance. In the very next paragraph, it stated you needed to be available to work mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays.

I asked myself if being available that much would really create a work/life balance and the answer was no. Even though this job was 10 minutes away and it was 8-hour shifts.

Most nursing jobs in the hospital, don’t allow you to make your own schedule. Even though you only work 3 days a week, you can’t really choose which days that you work.

In my experience, even if you have enough PTO saved up, the hospital can still deny your vacation request.

What will I do next?

I figure that I’ll get a job and also get my photographer’s license while I’m working. Once I have my license, I will build my portfolio and look for a job with a whale watching company in California or become a nature photographer.

I’m forever grateful for what nursing has provided me with. I think that it is time to go in a different direction with my career.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a post on Instagram asking for a photographer to go to Antartica and photograph killer whales for a year. I got so excited because I would love to do that. I love killer whales! I wanted to be an oceanographer when I was little.

The only reason I didn’t apply is because of the requirements for the job. You had to be able to swim and shoot a gun. Two things that I can’t do yet. I plan to take swimming lessons and go to the gun range to learn. That way when or if that opportunity comes up again, I can apply and know that I can swim and fire a gun.

That excitement let me know where my heart truly lies in a career. I want a job that excites me and not a job that kills my spirit every day.