February update

Given I’m having feelings about many social media platforms, I thought I might try reviving my blogging habits. So here we are: an update for February.

I started working at a major tertiary hospital here as a student nurse about four weeks ago. I expected it to be challenging and it is, but sometimes in ways I don’t expect. I expected that I would be working with patients who have much more complex health conditions than I’d worked with previously, and I was absolutely correct. Be careful what you wish for, as they say. I have my first night shift tonight so that will be interesting too. Night shifts are part of the deal with nursing, so it’s a good way to get started putting into practice good sleep and eating habits while doing shift work.

Checking back in on my 2025 plans and priorities for a bit:

1. Solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter festivals.
I mostly did thinking about Lunasa on 1 Feb, but it was a good opportunity to take stock of how I’m investing my time and energies this year, and what I want to ‘harvest’ from it. Starting work as a student nurse was fitting and I did quite a bit of planning.

Mabon is next: the middle harvest festival at the equinox. I’m thinking about organising a get-together with some like-minded folks that evening to celebrate. Study will be moving into the hectic phase of semester by that point, so it will be important for me to prioritise balance in work, study, and social lives in the lead up to Samhain.

2. Pee more/eat more beans
I am doing well at prioritising listening to my body and not putting off pee breaks, gradually building new habits. I’ve been prioritising eating more vegetables which has been good. In March, I’m going to spend a month being quite strict about what I eat and I’m choosing to have an entire booze-free month. Kind of a reset.

3. Chamber orchestra/ballet
I haven’t yet been to a ballet class this year, mainly for financial reasons. I’m earning far less as a part-time student nurse than I did as a full-time public servant, so I don’t have the discretionary funds to do whatever I want all the time. Also, part of the reason I don’t have funds for ballet classes is because I rashly decided to get another multi-session tattoo which is in progress. I’ll post pictures when it’s finished, but it’s mostly done and it’s healing well. So once my tattoo is complete, I can reconsider ballet classes. I’ve kept up my gym membership though, so getting in there more often is just about prioritising. Just gotta do it.

Orchestra, I’ve been going to most rehearsals and I have made sure I have our March concert date free in my diary, so I’m on track for 2 performances this year.

4. Booze: 75 days for drinking
I’ve chosen to drink alcohol on 11 days so far this year, so I’m on track to keep it at or under 75. I am keeping a list!

5. Reduce choices
Still working on this. Part of my strategy has been to write out processes for shift work, basically lists of what I need to do before my shift (what kind of meal/snack to pack, take meds before PM shifts, grab my transit pass before AM shifts, etc). Less thinking on the daily and more box-ticking. I have also set up an area in our study with my work uniforms, so that when I start early or finish late I have what I need in a room where I’m not disturbing anyone’s sleep.

I’m also doing a year-long project to cull my wardrobe. I’ve tied a scarf to the hanging rail – everything starts hung to the left of the scarf, anything I wear this year gets hung to the right. At the end of 2025 I’ll take stock of what’s still on the left, and likely donate it all.

6. Graduate!
My next student placement will start in April – four weeks at a busy emergency department. Over the past week and a bit I’ve passed the two assessments required before I can attend placement. I had to re-sit one of those assessments, which is a first for me. I understood the reasons our group didn’t meet the required standard and was able to take that feedback on board and run with it for my second attempt a few days later. In a way it was probably good that I had to re-sit, as my performance was much better overall. I went much more in-depth with my learning and I’m more confident with my result than I might otherwise have been.

Study is otherwise going well so far. I have about 5 weeks of classes starting this week, then it’s self-paced learning for the semester. On paper it all looks very manageable, but I suspect that particularly once I get into placement it’s going to get a bit hectic for a while. I just have two semesters to get through and it’s done though. We have a group assignment this semester which I always loathe, but I’ve found a group of mature aged students to work with and I think they’re going to be good colleagues.

So that’s where we’re at towards the end of February. The first couple of months have been good so far and I’ve been working steadily through my plans for the year.