64 - Lindsey Gibson: Bedside, Management, and Educator - Oh My!

Join nurse and Curlew, Washington native Honored Guest Lindsey Gibson as she discusses her transition from bedside nursing to leadership and management, being a nurse twin, her big family, being indecisive, ending up in a field of nursing she didn't like in school, chasing flexibility, sharing her passion for nursing with students, having a job during nursing school, having to grow up earlier than others, her hero mother, "double dipping," Harriet, and more!

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Transcript

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Welcome to this episode of the Feeding Our Young podcast. Today I am with so many honored guests. I am with a nursing instructor. I am with a nurse. I am with a semi -recent graduate. I am with one single person that embodies all these things. I am also with nursing leadership management. So this is just an outstanding episode. Be ready for the rock star. That is Lindsey Gibson. Lindsey, how the heck are you today? Good, nice to be here. I am so glad to have you. Thank you so much for saying yes. I only had to ask her 17 times. I annoy everybody at work. I'm just kidding. Not true. Definitely not, I don't want to be that guy. As has already been established. but, I did just let the cat out of the bag. I do work with Lindsey. Lindsey, what do you do currently as a nurse? I am currently part of the leadership team for Labor and Delivery at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. transition, yes? Yes, in mid -June, so it's brand new. Learning lots. about... Learning lots, gonna be teaching lots. It's, other than the leadership and management part. I told Lindsey before we started recording, said, feel like I'm staring into a mirror from two years ago when I went back for my master's, because Lindsey, are you going back for your master's degree? I am starting in 15 days, yes. nothing like it. this is gonna be so much fun. So yeah, doing that and teaching and working and it's a lot. It's a lot. But you're a rock star. So, ergo I'm excited to see your journey unfold. But anyway, we've already digressed and we're only two minutes into your episode. Let's go back and circle this back around. Introduce yourself to everybody. What schools did you, are you going to attend? And when did you graduate and all the things? Okay, I graduated high school in 2015. I started at Eastern. I went there for, I also did a little bit of running start in high school. I didn't finish anything, just a couple classes. And then I went to Eastern and finished up my prereqs, like chemistry, anatomy, all that jazz. And then I started at the WSU nursing school in downtown Spokane, August of 2017. Graduated there in 2019. starting my master's September 2024 with WGU. I don't mind dropping that name. I will drop any name. Whoever's whatever master's degree place you're getting it. that's, know, every program has its pluses, its minuses. It's for some. It's not for others. But you're just you're going to rock it. It's I love the freedom that that's found within it. So welcome aboard fellow. Yes. Welcome aboard fellow night owl. Soon to be. And that's what I love about their program, too, because you said you start in 15 days. And everybody's gonna, at the time of this recording, it's August 15th, so I'm gonna make sense, it's September 1st. But WGU, they have starting points at the beginning of every month, as I understand it. So it's, yeah, it's one of those things where you'll have people that just start wherever, willy -nilly. So we'll have to talk about a couple of the Facebook groups you need to get on if we haven't talked about that already too. Anyway, that'll help you on your journey. So. With that, where are you from? You can answer this however you want. Where's home currently, in the past, et cetera, et cetera. Let's see here, I lived in Seattle until I was about four. And then we, my sister and my mom and I moved to the opposite of Seattle. It's called Curlew, Washington. Real small town, like I'm talking a post office, a gas station that like, there's no building, you just like a CFN style, you just put your card in, pump your gas. Any stoplight? Is there a stoplight at all? stoplight, nope, in driver's ed, in driver's ed we had to get our passports so we could go to Canada to hit a stoplight. That is not a joke. Yes. yeah, graduating class, including me and my sister, was 18. What? Yeah, yeah, really small, really small town. So then when I moved to Cheney that following September, I obviously thought Cheney was giant, which it's not. shoot, yeah. No. you know, it's not at all. But yeah, I get it. It's a matter of perspective, right? Yeah. having, you know, two grocery stores and I don't know what the population is. A couple stoplights. See, I was like, wow, this, and you know, being a college town, there's like a lot of people my age. I'm like, wow, I've never been around so many people that are like, you know, just was a big, you know, it felt big. It eventually felt small as I stayed there longer and realized how small it really was. But perspective, the perspective. And then I moved into Spokane. after I graduated nursing school. And then that is where I have resided since. Yeah. mean, plan on sticking around, not going anywhere. Yep, the plan on sticking around, bought a house, December 2021. Got locked in on a good interest rate before they went skyrocketed, so that was cool. Yeah. as a side note for listener, I don't know whose episode gets, you'll have the pleasure of hearing first, whether it's Harlee's or Lindsey's both of which are coworkers over on the L&D side, coworkers of mine in the birthplace. And Harlee when she recorded her episode, she's talking about, you she's like, this is, that's Lindsey making this sound or whatever. And I thought it was just some roommate or some friend. I didn't know it was like the Lindsey I knew. And so, or one of the Lindsies that I knew. And so, just now, just today, Lindsey's like, no, like she was recording her episode at my house. And I was like, it was you, it was Lindsey Lindsey So this is all, it's just fun. It's fun times. So you talk about, you said you mentioned briefly something about your sister before. We're not gonna unpack the whole family situation, but you have a sister. Yes, I have an identical twin sister. She also went to nursery school with me. We were a semester apart because she changed majors last minute. She was going to go to dental hygiene school and then went to orientation and was like, nope. And then had to go back and take like stats or something. So then she ended up being the semester behind me at nursing school. But yeah, she worked in the NICU for a little bit at Sacred. People get confused there, you know, in the elevators. We were both on night shift. And she'd come down for deliveries sometimes and people would be like very confused because we were very identical. And then now she's at Holy Family and their family maternity center doing NICU L &D. Yeah. Awesome, very awesome. And I bring this up, and I warned Lindsey, because yesterday in studio we had Jamie Felchin as an honored guest, and she mentioned the fun fact that she's a twin, and her twin is in the neighborhood of Sacred Heart somewhere, and a little behind her in school and all the things, and I said, my gosh, so we have twin twins on L &D, this is amazing. And so now I put forth to her, was like, well if your sister's interested in coming on, she goes, absolutely, said. Well, now I'm going to ask Lindsey the same thing. So, Lindsey, I'm going to let you talk to your sister and see if she's willing to do it. And I lovingly said to Jamie, I said, it's not a competition, but maybe it's a little bit of a competition. Whoever wants to get in here soon, it's fine. No big deal. Just kidding. I'm honored to have whoever and anyone that has a heart to share with anything with nursing students. I'm so grateful you're here. I hope to have your sister here. I hope to have Jamie's sister here. And we're just going to plug right along with that. So. Second digression, and we're only a few minutes into your episode again. So let's just get this thing back on track. Before we get into getting to know you more, let's ask our standard questions, our new standard question. No, let's do the old one first, which is, what are the three words you would use to describe nursing school? Okay, I would describe nursing school as broad. I would describe it as worth it. And let's see here, made. Awesome. Well, we'll find out why you chose those quote unquote three words when we get to the end. I love it. And now the new traditional question, which is, do you have three of your favorite songs in life right now that you would like to share with us? Yes. So I, I like most areas of music. So I kind of, when I was having to pick three, I just kind of picked three from like different, different genres here. So when I was a kid, like I was listening to Heart with my mom. So I love Straight On by Heart. And I'm really sad that that concert got canceled because we had tickets. and then let's see here. And then I really like right now it's summertime and I'm going on the boat. So I'm into this reggae band called Revolution. Count Me In, I like their song. And then, let's see here, another one I really like is Fire For You by Cannons. Ooh, excellent. I cannot wait to listen to those. This is all partially self -serving, but also I love the idea that everybody can now hear different ideas of what people love to listen to, and it exposes us music lovers to new music we've never heard before. And so I'm a big fan of trusting Spotify's algorithms, but I'm a bigger, much bigger fan of getting recommendations from like actual humans. So funny how that works. So you've already talked about your sister, your lovely twin sister. Go ahead and expand on that. Talk to us about your family, either the family you came from, the family you currently quote unquote have right now, and if any of them are in healthcare. Yes, so I have a pretty big family. My mom has lot of brothers and sisters and we're all pretty close. One of my aunts is an RN. She worked in Tacoma in the psych ER and she loved it. And now she actually is the Dean at a nursing school on the West Side. So that's cool. Yes. I'll try to remember the name of it. It's Clover Park Technical College, their nursing school. She runs that, I believe. And then my grandma has been an MA for years and years at a kidney place, working with the same kidney doctor for a long time. And then my sister, who is the NICU labor nurse. And then my mom, who pukes at the sight of blood. So she... What I always say to the school nurse, for instance. No. Thanks, but no thank you. Yeah, everybody's got their thing, right? Even in nursing circles, some people are like, no, I could never do L&D postpartum, too much blood. Other people are like, I can't do like, trach juice. And other people like, I can't do, yeah, no trach juice. Other people like, I can't do vomit. Everybody's got their no -nos. Yeah. Awesome. So what is it that you love most about your hometown? What I loved most about Curlew was it's very outdoorsy. I feel like, and it helps that I had a built -in buddy that we'd just go do things outside all the time just because that's what there is. You know, don't go bowling, you don't go to the movies, you go build a tree house or something just because you're up in the middle of the woods and that's what there is. I feel like that it was outdoorsy. I feel like it taught me a lot of outdoorsy things. that I maybe wouldn't have had the opportunity to get good at. The community, you get to know everybody, which is good and bad, but always a lot of support. If I had a flat tire or needed a ride home, whatever, people are like, that's Heather's daughter. I'm just gonna pick her up or help her. I felt very supported all the time with the people around you. And so that outdoors the everything that kind of leads into the next question, which is what are the things you like to do hobby wise, fun wise, you know, outside of your nursing career? Yes, I, in the winter time, I like to go skiing. We always would go cross -country skiing with my grandpa. So I do that when I go up and visit them or do downhill skiing, because there's a lot of places here in Spokane area that are within an hour, hour and a half drive. So we do a lot of skiing. And in the summer, I like to go to the lake and go on the boat. Bought a boat this spring, because it's my very favorite thing to do. So do like wakeboarding, surfing, just hanging out out in the sun on the boat. Paddle boarding. I'm not much of a hiker, but I like to go walk around like nice parks. Yeah, I don't want to go like backpack in the woods, but I like to go walk around. Because you used to live in the woods basically, so. Awesome. So take us through your nursing school journey, dialing it back, you know, pre pandemic and maybe we'll touch on that a little bit too. But what did you love most about nursing school? I liked, I like learning. I thought it was cool to learn so many things. And honestly, I didn't know what a nurse really did until nursing school. Like I had this idea maybe from TV or maybe from hearing my family. Like my aunt talked to me about it, but I feel like I didn't really know what it was until I started nursing school. was like, okay, now I get it. And even then I feel like I didn't really get it until I started working. Yeah, I liked the camaraderie. Like everybody's in the same boat. Everybody's just trying to do their best and learn and get through this to go off into their various careers. Yeah. Yeah, awesome, awesome. So why nursing? How'd you end up there? well, I started, like I said, I kind of started school at Eastern not knowing what I was going to do. And I was like, okay, I'm very overall as a person. I know I'm very indecisive and, like option claustrophobic per se, like the idea of not having options all the time. I was like, I really want to be able to have, you know, job opportunities and lots of options because I have no idea what I want to do. And I was like, well, you know what? If you get your RN license, the options are limitless. You can work in for a company, you can work at a hospital, you can work at a clinic, you can work at a school. Like there's just so many different routes that it can go. And it's, you know, all of the routes are rewarding. And if you find something you don't like, you can always change it. And that's not true for, I mean, I don't know if it's true for a lot of careers, but this seemed like the most flexible. Yeah. Yeah. you work, the time you work, like there's just so much flexibility in this job. Like, you know what? I'm gonna give it a shot and it's the best decision I've ever made. You know, I was going to save this for a little bit later, but let's ask about that right now because do you have a very, of anyone I've spoken with, you have very good evidence for that very last statement you said about being able to change, being able to move, being able to do something different. So I guess let's start with the, let's lob up the easy question. You ended up in labor and delivery out of nursing school, correct? Why labor and delivery? How did you end up there? Well, all through nursing school, I actually said I was never going to be a labor and delivery nurse. The amount of times I said that, I don't even know, but I was like, no, that's not for me. I'm not going to do it. I don't like it. Not knowing what I was talking about. So I was like, I want to work in the ER. I want to work in the ICU. I want to do all the other things. And I don't know if it was just because the majority of the people in my class a lot of the girls really wanted to do labor and delivery. And I was like, I don't want to like trying to be, I don't know if I was trying to be different or what, but I was like, no, I don't want to do that. And so, and I had my OB clinical hours actually at Sacred Heart where I work now. And I remember being like, I don't like it. And I don't know if it was just, if I was just being stubborn and closed minded. was anyways, I'm sure it was a great experience. And I just was being, you know, a stubborn, stubborn student. that's a thing. Yes. And I was like, okay, whatever. Like, you know, I went and learned a lot, but I also didn't see a delivery. I did not do a delivery. I did not do any C -sections. I was an antepartum doing postpartum mad couplets. I remember that. And then I remember like doing some labor, but no actual delivery, which is fine. And then, and then I went and did my practicum on the on a cardiac floor, also at Sacred Heart. I was just, and at the time though, I was working as a nurse tech at Holy Family on their maternity center, which I loved that job. I was like, this is the coolest job ever. Like I loved being a nurse tech on at Holy Family on the maternity center. The nurses were so inviting and they taught me so much. And I got to do like a lot of newborn care, which is different than at Sacred Heart because at Sacred we take our patients over to postpartum after a couple hours. but wholly they keep them so I got to help out with lot of their postpartum care and labor care and kind of like the whole birthplace as a whole you could call it. And so that was cool. And then I would go to my practicum and I'd be like, I hate this. Like I need to change careers. This is horrible. I just didn't like it. And I don't know if it was the population or the timing. It was kind of a, I feel like the practicum at the end of. I understand what they do at the end, but it was a very stressful time and I feel like that didn't help. Very stressful time. I had to figure out where I was going to live, start applying for jobs, and then also try to, you know, get as much as I a sponge in the hospital. So I felt like I was just personally stressed out just because my lease was up and I had to figure out where was going to live and I had to graduate and I had to find a job, you know, because my other job was ending. So maybe it was personal things and why I didn't like it, but I loved my job that I had. So was like, you know what, before I totally bagged being a nurse. I'm gonna just see if I can get a job in the maternity center. And then here I am. Yeah. And truly, it just wasn't a fit. You know what mean? Whether it was the stress and all the other circumstances. But you get into something, yeah, you go, no thanks, not for me. So with that then, you're not currently bedside now. why, what's, you're talking about this movement, this ability to change, and you've had this massive upheaval recently. I mean, having, so you were in L&D for what? That would be five years. Yeah. this major change. describe why and what and how and how does that help? Okay, I was on night shift on L &D for five years and I actually really enjoyed night shift minus the sleeping at night part. But I liked the team, I liked the job, like I just really enjoyed night shift. And then this opportunity for being the kind of night shift A came about and I've always wanted to be somebody who wasn't afraid to try new things in their career. Again, I chose it because it's, I like to maybe jump around a little bit. And so I like, you know what? I'm just going to give it a shot. I'm going to apply for it. It's a little bit different, not as much bedside nursing as more like managing people and learning a lot about the behind the scenes of the hospital. But I'm learning a lot. I like the hours. I like the night shift team. like being there, representationally being there for them. And I like helping them out as they need, you know, on the floor and off the floor. So yeah, I do miss, I do miss bedside though. Yeah, it's quite the adjustment, from what I understand. mean, I don't, in, yeah. I, yeah. It is, it's quite the adjustment. I also did it for the flexibility of being able to be an instructor at the college. Yeah, being an L or a, yeah, OB nursing instructor. What does that look like? Why is it flexible now? What changed? What changed is beforehand I was on a six week schedule that would just rotate every six weeks. That was your pattern, which was nice because you always knew a year in advance when you were going to work. You could make your plans around this pattern. And then now it's four tens, just kind of ideally noon to 10. But sometimes I'll do like, you know, three or four to later in the earlier in the morning, I should say, just to be have more night shift time and you know. so they can have somebody there if they need, you know. So, but it's flexible, it's like I pick the days. So I can, you know, do Sunday, Monday, have Tuesdays, which is clinical days, and then work Wednesday, Thursday. Whereas beforehand with the rotating pattern, that was really not feasible. Yeah, not at all, not at all. You can't commit to something when you know that you don't have a certain day of the week open. right when I know I don't work, don't have every Tuesday off. It's really hard to commit to the Tuesdays off. Yeah. So why instruction? How did this come to be? Why teach students and add this to what sounds like an already very busy life? I honestly, just kind of, again, the opportunity just kind of came about me. one of my old instructors, Pam, she does, she teaches for WSU, does a clinical instructor there. And I saw her in the hallway and she was like, Hey, I'm teaching Eastern. You know, we really don't have anybody from OB. Like if you know anybody who's interested. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to give it a shot. I just wanted to try it. And so I did last semester. this is the first semester that Eastern is going to have OB cause they're a brand new nursing school. So this is gonna be the first clinical group they've had for OB. And I'm just really passionate about OB and labor and delivery. And I just kinda wanna share that with everybody. And I know it's not gonna be for everybody, cause it's not. But, you know, if there's somebody that's really interested in it I can, you know, help guide them, I would just, that would be very rewarding to me. Awesome, and you're gonna make an amazing instructor. There's not even a question about that from what I know of you. Like I tell my students, I'm like, you like you said, it's not for everybody. And we acknowledge that openly. And I say, obviously, for some of you, this is something that you feel like I need to get through and check the box and get done with. Right? Yeah. I, same thing, I knew I wasn't gonna go into OB and the whole like, gosh, I'm a male in a woman's world. And our instructor was great about all that. But I tell my students, I'm like, here's the low bar. I said, my goal is not to have you come out of our experience saying, I love this, I wanna do this. Because that's not a thing. For my bar, I say, if you come out of this next six weeks experience and you say, you know, I don't want to do OB, but if I had to, I could. Then we've done it. We've achieved, we've succeeded, end of story. Yep, if you're on the medical floor and you're taking care of somebody who's a couple weeks postpartum and had to have their gallbladder out, you at least know something. Yes, yes, and you won't die, you know what mean? You won't die internally trying to do that. So that's the important thing, right? Well, I mean, you know, touching on the fact that your life is super challenging right now, just with everything you're trying to balance. Let's dial it back again a little bit. Let's talk about nursing school in particular, and then we'll dial it back further. But in nursing school, any challenges you faced in particular there that you recall, and if so, how did you navigate those? The ner - it was challenging honestly to have a job. It was challenging to have a job. I had to have a job. I to, you know, you have to live and feed yourself. It was challenging to have a job just because it's the flexible like in nursing school you have to be there and you have be present. It was hard to balance a job and nursing school. I highly recommend being a nurse tech. That, that saved my bacon. I'll tell you what. Being able to have a job. that I could, that was flexible with nursing school, the program was built in to understand that you also are in nursing school and will set you up in places where you can learn so much about, again, just where you wanna work, what kind of nursing you wanna be before you have to commit to working on a certain floor for six months, and then deciding if you like it or not. Yeah, that was a big struggle that I ended up finding a really good saving grace. Yeah. How did you balance working, like having a job and also having all these, because there are some students that are gonna hear you say that and go, there's no way, how would I even work while doing that? How did you balance that? Any advice as far as that's concerned, specifically? You just have to make, you know, if you want to do it, you'll make time for it. I think, you know what mean? You make time for things you want to make time for. And I wanted to be a nurse and so I'm like, you know what? I also have to make time to like survive. So you make time for studying and for getting your work done where maybe you didn't have the time before. You say no to certain fun things. You maybe stay up a little later than you should or get up. In my case, I would get up earlier than I should just because in the morning I felt like I'd have a cup of coffee. I could get an hour or two done. Okay, good. Now I can start my day, go to class. And then using your time in between classes, like there'd be a 45 minute gap. Yes, also take a break if you need a break, but sometimes if you need to power through just because you have things to do later, power through. Yeah. Maybe that was harsh, but. no, that's not harsh at all. Well, it is harsh. It's a harsh reality, right? If you have to power through, you have power through, you go through that pain so that on the other side, you don't have that pain anymore. I love it. But there are studies that show that, at least in the context of high schoolers who are working while going to school and all the things, and the question was asked. Is it more detrimental or is it actually more helpful? And what they find is that typically that's more helpful because then you are forced to do these time management things and that and they usually came out of high school with higher grades, you know, overall. And it's it's it's intriguing to me that that's a thing. Whereas, you know, someone listening might go, no, there's no way. And I'm like, well, you know what? It's like you said, you got to do what you got to do. Yep. Yes. Awesome. So dialing it back further. What other challenges have you faced in life and if you want to expound on how do you personally navigate those challenges? Let's see here, challenges that I've had in my life. I feel like my sister and I had to kind of grow up a little earlier than maybe most kids. You know, we had a pretty big shift in our life when we were about four. And like I said, we moved to, my mom and my sister and I moved to the opposite side of the state, into this, you know, cabin in the woods per se. And we just kind of had to like help. help her, not help her, she was very capable, very strong, my idol, my mom. But just kind of like we were in this together and you know, help you know, get firewood and help you know, cook and clean and just maybe like focus more on I guess, not that I had a wonderful childhood, I'm not saying I didn't have a wonderful childhood, my mom is amazing. Just kind of, I feel like we just kind of grew up a little earlier because we had to face different realities. So that was kind of a challenge, also I really think it helped me in college face those hard realities of, no, I wasn't a stranger to having to accomplish hard things that I, you know, yeah. Yeah. That's inspiring. Why is your mom your idol? Why is she your hero? She's so strong and she gets everything done. She's always put my sister in me and then eventually my little brother first. You know, and she's just always like I think back like... her being my age and having two twin babies by herself. Like that is, I could not imagine, and I am somebody who has a stable career and a stable place to live, you know what mean? So I could not imagine how many difficult decisions she had to make to get me to where I am now. and she always put us first. She's actually also getting her master's actually through WSU right now, but she was a paraeducator at our school, because that's one of the only places you can work in Curlew. If you're not gonna work in the mine or in the hospital that's a couple 30 minutes away, you're gonna work at the school. So she was a paraeducator when we were in kindergarten, you know, so that worked out, because then child care, whatever. And then as soon as we graduated high school and went to college, she started going to college. She went to WGU and got her teaching certificate, teaching degree. And then she's actually the principal now. So she never stopped learning also. And she just keeps going. she, looking back now, I didn't realize this when I was a kid, but she waited until we were out to do all these things for herself. And she's just so selfless. Yeah. being a fellow person raised by a single mom, do you, you know what I mean? Like I think that there's, would you concur that maybe there's an element of, you know, there are these dreams that someone has and then all of a sudden life takes a radical pivot. And maybe, like you said, you have to do things you don't like for a while. And then here she is now, fast forward, being able to do, you know what I mean? Live her life for her and to do the things she wants to do. Yes. something so inspiring about that, yeah? Yeah. and I don't want to discredit my stepdad. He came in the picture and so she wasn't like a single mom forever, but I don't want to discredit him if he listens to this. He was also wonderful. Yeah. Yeah, nope. It's a choice. None of, you know. Yeah, yeah. And then, and the children have to choose whether or not they accept said stepparent and all the things and, it can get brutal. So then, Lindsey, you know, just this inspiring discussion about overcoming these challenges in different phases of life. Let's just fast forward to now again. I'm just hopping all over the timeline. But now we're sitting here in August of 2024. You are staring down the barrel of a new career, not totally new, but new to you and new aspects of that career, giving up the career you've known for five years, longer than you were in nursing school, and learning how to not only become a clinical instructor, but simultaneously going back for further education to do that, and... doing all that with a university that's starting a program for the very first time. How are you navigating those challenges right now? And if anybody listening did not like get tired hearing that, I want you to rewind and hear that again. This is what a Superwoman Lindsey Gibson is doing right now. So, Lindsey, how are you navigating those challenges? Yeah, it was maybe an ambitious time frame to choose all these things at the same time, but you know what? We're gonna do it. It's gonna get done. Yeah. let's see here. I'm going to start with my support system. have obviously my sister who doesn't live with me anymore, but we talk on the phone probably about an hour a day when we have time. Just talking about venting, talking about life, our jobs, we have the same job. She's also starting her masters, so we're kind doing it together. I have a, again, a built -in buddy that we do everything together all the time. So I text her, I'm like, Haley, you have to do this with me. And she's like, okay, fine. So she's doing it with me. That's very helpful. I have a very supportive partner. Does all the, a lot of the... stuff that I would normally do when I had time, laundry dishes, whatever, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping. And he's like, I'll step in, like, we'll do this, I'll help you with this. And that's very helpful. Shout out to Chase, very supportive. Yeah, and I mean, time management, something you're never gonna stop learning how to do, whether, know, like there's people that do this, like Eric, he did all this with four kids. So that's gonna make my job over here seem easy. You know, like, again, it's perspective and do it, you know, if you want to do it, you'll make it happen. And that's just going to be my mantra through this whole thing. And that's one thing I want to do. So I'm going to make it happen. And I love that you are just pursuing it, you're gonna get it. And as you and I both know, and are no stranger to the fact that it is definitely painful doing stuff like that at the same time. Yeah, and I'm doing the leadership and management for WGU. That's the route that I ended up going with. And so, and I kind of decided that I was toying between the idea of the master's in education and the master's in leadership and management. And I'm thinking that maybe some of my work can double in to this degree. I can pick a project at work that I'm doing that can double into this degree. So I'm like, you know what? I'm going to. Maybe not the easier of two options, but one that I can maybe do some double dipping. Yeah. taking advantage of the circumstances you're in. That's much better word than double dipping. Double dipping works as well though. So no, I love it. love it. And I, you know, we embrace the pain that we know lies ahead. But like you said, if it's worth it, you're going to do it. just, I love it. Like you're making me want to do more and good Lord, we already know I do too much. how do you, you, what? on. And you started a podcast. Why, you you're like, well, there's no room on the plate to add anything. Well, then great, get a bigger plate. Get two plates, like I do buffet style, but that's a different story. All right, so before we wrap up in our traditional manner, Lindsey, is there anything else you want to share, be it to a nursing student, nursing instructors, to nurses, anything like that, anything else that you want to make sure you communicate before your episode comes to a close? Yeah, I mean, I think Eric can speak for this too. I think that not everybody is lucky to have a good support system or a good family life or a good, during your nursing school maybe you're doing it and you truly are all by yourself. Reach out to your instructors. There is nothing more that we want than for you to feel supported. And that's something I maybe wish I would have done instead of just being like, okay, I'm here. You know, not that I, there's some clinicals I really enjoyed, but sometimes, you know, when you're checking a box, you know, maybe take a little step back in your perspective and you get to know your instructors and get to know each other and know that you're, it's a lot of camaraderie and that can be, you know, really, really a good thing and a good tool. resource and it'll be the same when you're a nurse. People you work with on the floor, you're gonna spend time with them on Christmas, you're gonna spend time with them on days when you wanna be with your family, when you have other things going on, you're like, man, in my personal life, I maybe should not be at work right now. So really embrace the camaraderie and use your peers. and help foster that camaraderie if it doesn't exist. keep it going to these younger nurses, which is exactly I think what the point of this podcast is. You know, like really it's though your environment and your life will be a lot better if you, you know, have a good support and you can make that support at work. You'll enjoy your job a lot more if you enjoy your coworkers. Very much so, and sometimes you only enjoy your job because of your coworkers, and that's legit. Yep, you might have the worst assignment that day. Yep, exactly. All right, so with that, Lindsey, or work daughter, work sister, work son, work cousin, fill in the blank. For some of us, it's work grandmas. I jokingly, when I was precepting new hires and my preceptors were still there, I would straight up be like, by the way, here's Sherry, here's Nikki, this is your grand preceptor. If you have better questions, ask that. They did not like me saying that. It was very strange. Anyway, okay, so you chose three quote unquote words to describe nursing school. What were they and why? Worth it? I really think we covered that one. It's - Shhh! it! Shhh! No! No! Hi, Harriet. I was wondering if Harriet would make an appearance. So Harlee talked about Harriet, and Harriet stayed quiet. And Harriet, this time on Lindsey's interview, was going, nope, I'm going to make myself known. So welcome, Harriet. Yes, so worth it. It's worth it. It's a reward. It's rewarding. know, most, not every day, you cannot speak for every day, but the majority of the time at the end of the day, whether in my new job as being, you know, in leadership or when I was on the floor, you always feel like you're impacting somebody's life. And that to me is very rewarding. I get a lot of self -worth out of that. It's worth it. It's also, it's nice to be financially independent. That is a very, that's a good perk about nursing, about being a nurse, you know? You can really, you know, accomplish a lot of things. Money doesn't buy happiness, but it can, you know, it's, not, it feels good to be financially independent. And let's see here. So worth it. went over that. Broad. I mean, look at how many hats I have. Look at how many hats Eric has. Nursing is broad. If you are unhappy in your, where you're at as a nurse, I can't guarantee anything, I, you can, there's so many areas you can work. You can find something that will be rewarding and make you happy. You just have to find it. You can work as a nurse. There's so many places that need different kinds of nurses, different, find what works for you. And then what works for you might change. And don't be afraid to change and embrace new areas in your career. Let's see here, what was my last word? It was worth it, it was broad, that best decision I ever made. And I think I kind of covered that one too in there, like, you know, it just gave me so many opportunities to just grow as a person. Like, you know, I started out thinking, okay, I'm gonna go to nursing school. And then now here I am circling back, being an instructor, helping, you know, the leadership team, helping on the floor sometimes. You know, you have all these different, and who knows what'll come up in a couple of years. Maybe I'll go back to the floor. Maybe I'll go be a full -time instructor. Maybe I'll need to pick a whole new area. I hope not, because I love OB, but there's always room to make new growth. And like you said, you have all these options available to you because of the decisions you've made already leading up to this point. So awesome. If it's not what you've already covered, if there's one thing you want nursing students who are listening to walk away from your episode with, what is it? Keep trucking. It'll be worth it. It'll be that you'll, I hope, turn around and think this is the best decision you've ever made. is, yeah, it seems hard and like I said, reach out to your peers and your instructors. If you feel alone, you don't need to be. Everybody's in the same boat. keep it up. like that advice is very applicable in your role as leadership and management as well. Yeah, yeah. Lindsey, well thank you so much for taking time out of your day to do this. I'm excited. We were both talking about the fact that we both have our own going back to school orientations next week for our students and prep for our students. so things get busy in a very short time for both of us. Yep. Yep. We want it. Awesome, thanks so much Lindsey, it's been a pleasure. so welcome. Thanks for having me.