Stopping to Smell the Flowers

I have a love/hate relationship with my job. It is the perfect job for an introverted idealist whose occupation has to be something that is truly useful and helpful, and who doesn't like to have people standing over her shoulder watching her work. I see 5 or 6 patients in a day, then the rest of my work is done in my car or at home. I will stop at the office for an hour or two every day to pick up referrals and do my homework on patients, but for the most part, I do my charting, phone calls, and e-mails in the car or from home. A big part of my job is case managing, making sure that patients have the things and resources they need to be safe and healthy in their homes. I love that part of job. The major draw back with being a visiting nurse (and you will hear this over and over again) is the huge amount of charting that is required. Some days I spend more time charting then doing actual patient care. It can be extremely time consuming and frustrating. That is the part of the job I hate. There are so many days when the charting spills over into my evenings and weekends and consumes all my free time. The problem is, it has to be done, I can't just put it off. If I did my patients would not get the care they need. Some days like today I wonder if it is all worth it. And I have to force myself to stop and smell the flowers.









Like these pastel hyacinths. They are all wet with spring and rain and smell delicious.



I also stopped working for a few minutes and made some Olive Oil Crackers. The recipe is here. Sometimes you just have to stop and do something totally unnecessary in order to keep yourself from going insane on a weekend when you have to work (and again, its not the nursing part of the job, it is the paperwork).