124 - Krista Chambers: Don’t Shy Away From Challenging Things

Join tenured nurse and Spokane, Washington native Honored Guest Krista Chambers as she chats about having a child follow in her footsteps, being a non-traditional wife, her heroes, seeing her first delivery pregnant, making her own practicum, navigating a transitional time in her life, taking your practicum seriously, clinical advice, doing impossible things, and more!

Contact us:
thanks@feedingouryoung.org to send a note of appreciation to any of our honored guests - let them know how they touched you - I'll make sure they read your praises!
info@feedingouryoung.org all other inquiries, including having host Eric Miller speak to your nursing students or nurses!
+1 (509) 666-5636 text/voicemail line

Follow us:
@feedingouryoungllc Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube

Many thanks:
Jon Holland (Jomarkho - found on SoundCloud, Spotify, and the like) Music - intro/outro/sting composition
10com Web Development Logo and website design
Jeff Burton (88 Creative) Planting and watering the seeds to start this podcast

Transcript

0:01

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Feeding Our Young podcast. So this morning, I'm excited. I know it's unusual. I rarely am I excited in the morning. In fact, I really shouldn't have been this morning. So here's a disclaimer. If I'm all over the place today, I have a valid excuse. I had 12 vials of blood drawn this morning. Not because I'm okay. Everything's fine as far as that goes. My doctor just wants me to make sure that I'm okay, okay. So, but the point is, I've lost some blood this morning, so it's gonna be a fun who knows where we're going with my Honored Guest and me. I guess I should have warned my Honored Guest about that, but she's finding out right now just along with the rest of you. Regardless of that though, I'm still excited, and the reason why I'm excited is because Ian Studio Today is an incredible nurse and an incredible mom. I had the honor of sitting with her daughter uh as an Honored Guest two honored guests ago. And so uh she fortunately chatted with her. She's like, I think my mom would be willing to do this. I said, great, talk to her. And here she is. So ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, Krista Chambers. Krista, how are you this fine Friday morning? It's beautiful and I'm excited to talk to you. And I'm excited to talk to you. I really appreciate it, especially now that we're at the time of this recording. We're in April of 2025 and the sun's coming out. We've got spring going and allergies that go with, but it's beautiful. And yet you're choosing to take a little bit of time sitting, talking, nursing with me. So I cannot thank you enough for giving up time of your beautiful morning. No problem, I'm happy to be here. Well with that then, I've already introduced you are the one, the only, the amazing Krista Chambers. And yeah, your mom to Sophie, but Sophie, you already had your turn. unless she brings you up, I'm done talking about Sophie. It's Krista's episode. But with that, Krista, why don't you just let us know where you're from? uh I was born and raised in Spokane. I've lived here my whole life. Yeah, I went to, did my under, or my prerequisite Eastern and then technically I graduated through WSU. It was called ICNE or the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing. Back in the day, I graduated in 1999. Whoa, you graduated in the 1900s? uh a quote unquote experienced nurse. uh and yet you still have a passion for helping nursing students and making sure that nursing careers get off the ground, yes? Yes, absolutely. It's kind of unique to have a relatively new grad uh daughter as a nurse, a new grad nurse as a daughter. So yeah, I've been very invested in nursing students my whole career, but particularly having just gotten sending one out into the wild. Yeah, that's so crazy. I mean, I'll just go off script already. And can you tell us what that feels, I mean, obviously you're proud of your children and every good mom is, but what does that feel like having, you know, the next generation nurse in your own household? It's been a really cool experience for me. em I'm also now going massively off script. So when I, when I went to nursing school, I was not prepared. I don't have a medical family. em I honestly kind of cruised through my prereqs and then suddenly was just hit hard by nursing school. didn't know medical language or like concepts like Tylenol and acetaminophen that my kids have grown up knowing, I did not know anything. So em it was really a challenge. It was really difficult. And so being able to be a support, get emotional with her though. Yeah, it was really cool. Yeah. good, okay, so we're gonna yeah everyone here is listen to their podcast knows that we are friends to crying So I'm already like I just hearing you I'm like going okay here. We go here We go I gotta I gotta rein it in myself here, but otherwise Emotions are welcome here, and it is I can't even imagine like having that Second generation following your footsteps. You know what I mean and that sort of thing ah and I mean I You'll get to hear your daughter's episode, one of the things that struck me, she talked about, she really appreciated not only of course your example, but she appreciated seeing you and your career and not shying away from the, let's say, not so glorious bits of it. uh I can't imagine there's not glorious bits of nursing, but ah to be able to see both sides of that and then still go, yeah, that's something I want to do, uh that's a testament to. your person, your heart, and you as a nurse. So take that for what that's worth. Okay, well, that was a great episode. We felt all the feels, we've done what we needed to do. No, I'm just kidding. right, so let me, sticking, pulling back around to the script. What are three words, we'll talk about them, of course, at the end of your episode, but what are three words you chose, Krista, to describe nursing school? Having come out of it not that long ago, that's what I'm saying. no. ah So the words I would choose are challenging, bonding, and resilience, or resilience building. So, yeah. And what are three of your favorite songs in life right now? Well, I fully did not answer that question. uh There's music on in my house all the time. As well, I guess, you know, but not everybody listening knows we have two daughters and their twenties living in our house too, which is a lot of fun. And so we could be listening to anything. We're nineties teenagers, so we could be listening to alternative music or. singing songs from Wicked or this week Hamilton, listening to Elton John, to know, Chapel Roan and Sabrina Carpenter. So we could listen to anything in our house. It's hard for me to narrow that down to just favorites. It's a mean question. I fully admit that. Because I were, let's see, I don't know, you are, we're in about 120 episodes or so. I've only asked the question since about episode 40. don't know, somewhere around there, Honored Guest 40. But the long short of it is, I have this desire to create a Spotify playlist, a Feeding Our Young playlist on the songs that people have chosen. And I'll lead off with my top three. And so I was like, okay, I'm gonna just, come up with a... I can't come up with a top three. I need at least like five slots, if not 10. But no, I'm gonna subject myself to what I subject everybody else to and I'll pick three songs. that will be coming out. Actually, it'll be out by the time anyone hears your episode as far as that goes. All right, so I have obtained your permission, Krista, correct, to administer our patent not pending, unofficial, feeding our young personality test. Are you ready for said test? Yes, I'm ready. I love this. Honored guests are like, I love to talk nursing. And then I go, I've got a little quiz for you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We finished those years ago. All right, in no particular order. And again, you can rationalize or just give rapid fire answers. It's up to you. Would you rather instantly learn a new language or musical instrument? I think I'll choose a language. Are you team pie or team cake? Hi. ah Is Wham's song titled Last Christmas actually a Christmas song? And that was a quick answer too, I like that. Would you rather have the ability to fly or breathe underwater? I would choose Fly, but I'd love to vote with him. says, yes please, all the above. Thank you. But Fly gets the nod there, sounds like by a skoosh. And lastly, you have been blessed with a time machine. Congratulations. Are you going to go back in time or are you going to go see the future? That's good question. I think I would go back in time. Well, the results are in, Krista, and you are amazing. Congratulations, congratulations. And now we know exactly who we're talking to. no, thanks for playing the little game. It's loads of fun. I just like hearing people's different answers and I'm, I'm, I don't, I'm not a fan of research. I never have been. That may be one thing that's preventing me from going back for my doctorate and all the things, but All that being said, like part of me wants to like go in and see if there's any correlation between personality traits based on these questions. uh Anyway, okay. More about you, Krista, though. So let's just open up with what are some of your hobbies? I love what you had to say there. Let me find that little thing. Well, what I was doing first thing this, well, not first thing this morning, once I got up was um making sourdough. I have been going in and out of the you know, like everybody did during COVID. But it's kind of a challenging hobby. So this is round three and I think I actually have the hang of it now. So about every other week I make four loaves of sourdough and give them to my parents and tuck some away. So yeah, I was making sourdough this morning. So that sounds like, uh, almost maybe like a traditional, uh, homemaking wife's type role. And yet, uh, if I recall correctly, you said you don't consider yourself a, you consider yourself a non-traditional wife. What does that mean? Yeah, feel like we, well, okay, being traditional in that you stay, my hobbies would be like, you know, the trad wife that they talk about now. I like to knit, I make sourdough, I like the garden and do these things, yet um I wouldn't say that, well, I was always a working mom. So we definitely split our, duties, my husband and I are more of a like partners where we, both do the things. So, um, that's important when you were 12 hour shifts, I was very grateful that I would come home at the end of the day and have dinner waiting for me. Um, I really appreciated that. And so it really, yeah, it, it was, it was really nice not to have to come home and have to just be able to relax and have my dinner and get through my work days and yeah, be supported in that way. So we've been married 29 years. So that was helpful in making it through. I have to ask is that 29 years this year or are you celebrating the big 3-0 this year? No, just on Easter had our 29th anniversary. yeah, yeah. Next year is the big three-oh, so I'll have to do something special. I guess I'll have to get some contact info to put out there on the website in case any nurses hear this and they're like, um, can your husband talk to my husband, please? Well, I mean, just talk more about your family then, because I know that you have a beautiful family there. Let us know a little bit about your family. Yeah, we have three children. They are 27, 24, and 22. Sorry about the pause. We just had everybody's birthdays. So our son Connor is out on his own. He's engaged to get married this fall. Doing great. And then Sophie's our middle and she is an ICU nurse at Deaconess. And then our youngest Hazel, is 22 and she's in the Master of Occupational Therapy program uh through Eastern. So yeah, the two girls are still at home. were fortunate enough to, know, different things happened during the pandemic, but I feel like the girls at home were in college. It brought us very close. So we we're lucky that everybody just gets along. it just, it works well to have, to be for now, have them still supported at home. So yeah. And then we have five dogs. Yes. All right, so very briefly, like breeds and names, five dogs. so we one almost 19 year old Shih Tzu named Baxter. He is still rolling around. He's blind. He doesn't have very many teeth. He has to wear a diaper because he's incontinent, but he's still kicking. And then two more Shih Tzus that are named Leonard and Penny. They're litter mates. it! Love the reference. And they're full again, sorry, I'm not going to overly reference the pandemic, but they're full COVID dogs. Their life is to cuddle. They were raised with people at home all the time, um, with the girls, you know, home for school and stuff. So they're just the cuddliest, cute little, they're my grandchildren. And then Sophie has a uh doodle named Remus. And then my husband's dog, although he's everybody's dog, but it's his particular dog is a Great Dane, 165 pound Great Dane named Apollo. that's amazing. Yeah. I always tell people, you if you have more than two kids, you're crazy. If you have more than two pets, you're crazy. So you check both those boxes. But I let that marinate before I tell them that we've got five kids of our own and five cats of our own. So, you know, it is what it is. You collect certain things and you just can't stop. So we're So I mean, those are your furry babies and you've told us about your family, but I feel like that leads naturally into a question that you answered that states, who is your hero and why? Yeah, uh I chose my late grandparents, my mother's parents. My mom was adopted, but that was never relevant in any way. em They were just examples to me of unconditional love, uh kindness, forgiveness, generosity. You could just see the light every time they saw us. uh And so, yeah, thinking of those type of people that just, felt how much they loved you every time you saw them, ah are just behaviors I'd like to model in my life. So yeah, I'm emotional today. That's weird. I'm not typically very emotional. Because I'm an old nurse. I guess, I don't know why. I, it's been a week and I mean, I wasn't going to talk about it and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, but you know, the emotions are all right. I, this is the first episode I've recorded since Easter Sunday. On that day, I got news that my dad had died. And um on that note, I just, when we talk about those that And when we talk about those that we love, whether they've gone before us or whether they're still with us, like our kids, for example, uh I don't know. I love what you described there, like that tangible love. I'll never forget that with my grandmother in particular. You know, anytime I visited her, yeah, our parents, our grandparents to say, love you and all that. And they mean it a hundred percent, but they're just certain. certain people that you get around and you just feel that love. You feel that and so I love like that you bring that up like that that's what it that's how I like to describe it is is that tangible love and I imagine your grandparents have helped kind of inform who you are as a nurse. uh So with that I'm gonna let myself continue to tear up and let that out but I'm gonna give you the mic so Tell us more about, in particular, maybe how that's affected your nursing career, but uh also why nursing? Because I love everything that you had to share about. I started into my prerequisites, like I said, not coming from a majorly medical uh family. My great-grandmother was a nurse. Ironically, Sophie's named after her, and Sophie graduated from nursing school 99 years after her great-great-grandmother, Sophie, uh whose picture's up in Sacred Heart's walls. Yeah. Um, her nursing pin got passed on to Sophie. Yeah. So cool. And she also is an incredible woman, just like, she lived to, um, nearly a hundred. She was still wanting to learn the technology of the time. We discovered that's one of my struggles during this process. Um, and just. super interesting and resilient woman in her own right. My thought I was gonna go into being a physician. My husband and I were dating at that time. And as I started to look at my life and what I wanted for it, nursing just seemed like a better fit for me. Yeah, so I started down that path. I really... thought that women's services was what I was interested, but nursing was different 25 years ago. um Getting into labor and delivery at that time was extremely challenging. So it was pre-practicum days. They did not have that when I went to school. um Side note, I had my first child during nursing school. challenging and resilience are involved in that statement. Yeah, I did my OB semester pregnant, saw my first ever baby born pregnant. I did have to sit down and be like, wow. Oh, what have I gotten into here? Yeah. uh Okay. But I, uh my delivery with my son was not terrible, but it was not easy either. And I came through and I'm like, that is what I want to do. That's what I want to do. So I kind of made my own practicum. ah I did an independent study at Deaconess with the support of my clinical instructor from OB. She was my person. And so I did a semester every week going into labor and delivery. And so they got to know me and I was hired as a new grad into labor and delivery, which was again, kind of unusual at that time. So yeah, 25 years in OB, 23 of them at Deaconess Labor and Delivery and then about A year and a half, almost two years ago, I transitioned over to maternal fetal medicine. em People don't know about it as we work specifically just with high risk pregnancies. em And yeah, so I'm what's called a nurse navigator at the time, uh right now in maternal fetal medicine at Deaconess. Incredible. I mean, maybe the answer is obvious, maybe it's not, but why that transition? Sophie and I talked a little bit, um, before I, before I joined you today and it was a transitional time in our life as parents, like we were heading toward, um, being empty nesters. My husband always had not worked a Monday through Friday job. So we both worked weekends and whatnot and he had switched and now had a Monday through Thursday, 10 hour job. And so we weren't working at the same time. So that is definitely a factor is that we were not off together any longer. And heading into life as empty nesters, having time together is kind of important for that relationship. uh And over the pandemic, which I said I was going to talk too much, I did start to experience some burnout in my career. I also had reached the point of 20 plus years of working the floor. And I had mentioned this in my mind. You have your kids and you work and then they graduate and you're an empty nest and you retire then. But it turns out I was in my 40s and I don't get to retire in my 40s. Unfortunately. like looking forward at 20 more years did scare me, honestly, a little bit. Like 12 hour shifts running your butt off. It's exhausting. It's, you know, we all know working in the hospital is hard. Labor and delivery is very, very difficult career. a very rewarding, amazing place to work, but it is also incredibly challenging. And I didn't know what I wanted next for myself. I did know I didn't want to be hobbling down the halls and not feeling great and not always, um like I wanted to be the best for my patients. So I had found that chatting, supporting patients, educating patients, you know, as you do a job longer a year, I was in an, basically like an assistant manager job. That's not what it was called, but that's basically what it is. So I was in charge a lot. So I worked a lot with antepartum patients, are patients who are keeping pregnant that are pretty stable. So, you know, talking to them, educating them, supporting them became kind of my new passion rather than always having, I didn't need the excitement and. things so much anymore, liked having connections more. So maternal field medicine was a pretty clear next path for, you it uses the knowledge I have and the experience I have and more of a one-on-one patient support type role. So as a nurse navigator, I get to make sure that people have all the resources they need and get to do consults and ask questions and are supported through this really scary, scary time for them. So yeah, it was kind of a cool but like natural next step for me. Awesome. I mean, having been in it a relatively short period of time, ah it sounds like it was the right decision, but I mean, how do you feel about that, you know, making that change and looking back on it over the last couple of years? Yeah, I feel like it's really rewarding. I like what I do a lot and I feel like coming in as a fresh person, I've been able to help that. Actually the role was in not there when I came in, I started as a clinic nurse and then they're like, we really need a nurse navigator. Can you do that? And I'm like, well, heck yeah. It actually is great for me because I have a lot of connections still at the hospital and I consider myself still a part of the team. ah And so it felt like a really natural thing. There's times I still, and that's what's cool about nursing, right? I don't know what else I will do. I can't say that I won't want something different at some point or still be funny and go back to school in my 50s. I don't know. And that is what's amazing about nursing and definitely how I feel so passionate that it's such a great field to go into as a young person. sure. I mean we are unabashedly biased here. uh Nursing is the best career. My apologies to everyone else who does anything else because we need everybody else to do everything else. But man, even with the bumps, the bruises, the you know what I mean, workplace violence, all the subjects that get people turned off of the subject, uh nursing is still the absolute most, it's so challenging but it's so rewarding. It's just, there's nothing better. Nothing better to do. And in fact, that makes me think of something that, I saw something about, I don't know if you remember, it was a meme or a video or something, but someone was saying something along the lines of, know, working 20 to 30 years. Oh, that's what it was, I remember now. So it's actually a comedy clip from the show Key and Peele. I don't know if you've ever seen that. Love them. And they're talking about, it's just this short little promo clip about them. robbing a bank and they're planning this heist. And Key's character is like, I've got the most brilliant plan. Like we are going to, we're going to, we're not gonna, we're just gonna go into the bank and we're gonna get jobs at that bank. he never uses the word jobs, he just says, we're gonna go into the bank and we're gonna start doing work at that bank and we're gonna slowly earn their trust. And Peele's character is like, yeah, yeah. He's like, yeah, and we're gonna, and he's like, so how long are we gonna do that for? And he goes, I don't know, probably like 20, 30 years. And he's like, well, how do we get the money then? And he's like, well, that's the beautiful part about it, man. They are gonna deposit that money directly into our accounts. And Peele's character was like, bro, that's a career, that's a job. ah And it made me think about like, you know, all these things that keep coming up, you you do a job for 20, 30 years hoping for retirement and hope, and obviously like with my dad's death recently, you know, he's only been retired a few years. He was a school teacher. And I, that thought has lodged in my brain about like, you you keep hearing about the proverbial, you work all these years and then hopefully you have many years to enjoy retirement with your loved ones, et cetera. And some people don't get that. And so the idea of turning in a job 20 to 30 years, of doing a desk job, for example, only to then experience life afterwards. That to me is sad. And I, no offense to anyone who does that, accountants, anybody out there. But what we get to do, Krista, and that's, think, what makes nursing different is, yeah, we're putting 20 plus, 30 plus, 40 plus years into a job, a career, but it's a career where we are making a difference and we're getting paid to do it. Yeah, absolutely. And it has a lot of freedom and that's the super cool thing about nursing. again, when I'm talking to people about why I would be a nurse again, it's like in my career, worked, obviously I started night shift, went to day shift after Sophie, I came back from maternity leave. And then when the kids were just starting into school, I went back to night shift. Not everybody makes that choice and I can't blame them, but some people love it. I have trouble sleeping. So I went back to night shift for several years while the kids were little so that they could have somebody around and we didn't need my mom. were fortunate if my mom did watch the kids when they were little, but you know, so I worked day shift. worked night shift. I've worked full time. I've worked part time and now I've switched kind of fields. uh It has served my life very, very well. You know, we could always be at all the kids' things. We could take a 10-day vacation in the summer and not have it be a crazy big deal. You know, and that's the lifestyle they grew up with, but it's not something everybody gets. So yeah, nursing is a very amazing opportunity to... to serve others, but to serve your life as well. And to allow for those things to, guess for the most part, hopefully peacefully coexist. Well, awesome. so earlier you said something I liked how you had mentioned you kind of created your own practicum. uh talk to us about your views on uh taking practicum seriously and your advice for students in that regards. Yeah, I think taking your practicum seriously is the biggest piece of advice I have, em mostly because again, I was in that assistant management type role. So I've done a lot of interviewing and hiring with my colleagues and your practicum is you're on the job interview. So a couple of things with it is if you're passionate about something, you really need to try to fight to get yourself in that door, to get a practicum that helps you along the way to your ultimate goal. And when you're at clinicals, whether it's regular clinicals or your practicum, you need to be teachable. That you are making connections with people who can help you along the way. So showing up, being interested, learning what people have to teach you. m It's just so, so important. I think it's the most valuable piece of pulling it all together from your nursing school experience. Yeah, for sure. forgive me if you touched on this a little bit, but uh kind of hand in hand with that, what advice do you have for students in regards specifically to clinicals? Not necessarily practicum, but clinicals themselves. Yeah, I have pretty strong feelings about this. I mean it all with love. Labor and delivery is an interesting experience for people, right? So some people are not interested and that's totally fine. But maybe pretend. You know, don't go off in the back room and try to do other stuff because that's one, it's inappropriate and disrespectful to our job. Um, so show up and try to find something you are interested in. Like if, if labor is not your jam, you know, we do pre-op, we do recovery, we do the OR. There's a lot of things you can find something. So be prepared, be respectful. And if you are excited about it, please also do remember that this is somebody's very personal experience. And it's not about your experience getting to see a baby be born. We do our best to get everybody that opportunity, but eh that's your experience that day is not what this is about. So please, please be respectful to the patients as well. And what's happening, whether that's in a delivery or if it's in the OR, you know, it's not a show. ah treat it how it should be respected. And that's coming from your labor and delivery experience too, which obviously makes sense, but I mean that applies students as well to, you know, any skills you get a chance to do that you're excited, you know what mean? You're like, or you, you know, you finally, you sync that first NG tube or you place that first Foley catheter, you get that first IV. It's okay to be excited about it, but again, it's not your story, it's not your show. And advice I give to my OB students in particular is like, they'll come in like, my gosh, like I, like that baby was coming out and I just, couldn't help myself. I'm starting to cry. I'm like, that's beautiful. That's wonderful. Like I preach you're part of somebody's miracle. So long as it doesn't, the focus doesn't shift on you. Right. So long as that uh experience doesn't, so long as people's attention aren't shifted onto you, uh because like you're saying, Krista, that's their story. And yeah, by all means, that you cannot, most people, a lot of people cannot witness a birth, cannot succeed in some major goal that they had professionally or whatever the case may be without, Feeling the feels. And that's great. Embrace that. Let it accentuate and kind of be that wind behind you in your nursing career. But don't then turn the spotlight from your patient onto yourself. And it's not about us. You know you're doing your job well if you're not the one monopolizing people's time talking about your life and your family or your birth experience and blah, blah, blah, Yeah. Awesome. Krista, so before we wrap up your episode in our traditional manner, I just want to make sure, is there anything that you really wanted to share, other than our traditional ending questions? Is there anything you wanted to share that you have not had an opportunity to do so? No, I don't think so. Sophie and I were talking this morning beforehand and I was like, what? What do you think I have to say? Yeah. your age and other nursing students? Yeah. Yeah. And, um, it was very cute to me because she was like, you've taught me that you need to be stubborn, that you need to define your own path, that you need to, um, not let anyone else tell you what you're going to do, but if you work hard, even the thing that people tell you is impossible, you can do it. Um, but you have to have the work for it and you know, and she's like that it's also okay that this is hard. I think it is important going into nursing. And I think that is to some degree an advantage. Sophie had is to go in knowing what you're going into. It's so rewarding, but it's hard, you know, we are going to deal with things that the average person don't experience or fully understand. But you are capable of touching people's lives in a way that no one else can as well. yeah, so that is. It's super, super cool. Know what you're doing. You know what you're getting into and why you want to do it. Yeah. So, and you can do, you can do those hard things and you can choose your path and your future. that's, isn't that so cool? Right? We, we don't have to stop in one spot. We all get to do our own journey with us. And that's what makes it again the best career on the face of the planet uh You know you're talking and I won't share my provider's name But the reason why I got labs drawn this morning this particular provider it was she's a godsend because I'd meet her and she's a runner and And so she understands, you know what I mean? Like certain things about what us runners go through and feel and all that and all that But the reason why I bring that up is because uh she you know, she's like, you know briefly, have to tell you, like, she's like, so I had back surgery, she had to have back surgery, I don't know when, and she was like, and they told me at that time, I would never run again, like, just be ready for that, get used to that, and she goes, and I ran the New York half marathon, just, was last year, the year before, uh and she goes, it wasn't a time I was used to, but I didn't care, I was able to do that, and to me, like, I love those stories of, you know what I mean, someone may tell you, yeah, you're probably not built for this. Yeah, you're probably not. This isn't probably the area for you. And that's why reflection, the art of reflection comes in handy because then you need to take that information and go, okay, now I need to seriously take some time, stay off the phone, seriously think about it, pray about it if that's your inclination and really work it over in the mind and the heart because then you go, okay, if that's true, is that true? You have to establish that. Does this person know me well enough? know, if it's your mom, if it's your dad and they come from a place of love, man, maybe they're saying some truth. uh Maybe not, who knows? But you have to determine that for yourself. And if you land in that place where it's like, no, this is something I definitely can do and I really want to do it, man, then you don't take no for an answer and you make it happen. uh then the second thought based on what you're saying, Krista, is that if... If you get nothing else from listening to this podcast, from listening to nurses, nursing students and everything else, what are some of the most common words of the three words that are used to describe nursing school? It's some variants of challenge and some variants of reward. And I think of like, obviously those two go hand in hand. The more challenging shifts I've had have typically been the more rewarding ones. The more challenging events in life that I've had are typically the more rewarding ones. And I wish I could say I know what it feels like to get a windfall of cash, be it from, you know what mean, some lotto win or something like that. But you hear time and time again of these people who get this windfall of cash and their life either goes off the rails or at best that money just gets spent out. And, you know, so you would think that that would be quote unquote rewarding. But anything easy is typically not rewarding. I won't say everything, but I imagine most anything that comes to you easy is usually not that rewarding. Krista, what would you say about I think that's absolutely true. Something that you have worked for and fought for and had to dig in and, you know, really want is where the reward is. Yeah, absolutely. All right, Krista. Well, on the subject of semi-commonly used words, what were the three words you used to describe nursing school, and why did you pick them? Yeah, so I'm going to go to the last word really quick just because that's a little longer to talk about, which is resilience. And again, Sophie wanted me to tell a little bit about this. And this is for the nursing students. you know, no names or things that I already have said. I started nursing school not prepared. and it was very, very challenging. em But you're working and figuring it out and doing your best. my clinical instructor of my first semester took each of her students in at midterm and pulled out a notebook and explained to us all why we should not be a nurse. Yeah. So I didn't. Yes, individually, that was our midterm review. And later when we're like mourning our suckiness, we found out this was told to everybody. Oh. Yeah. And there was, you when you talk about eating, you're young. That is real. I don't know if you can feel now because it really is better how bad it was. And this is how bad it was. So everything you had done wrong was brought up at that time. And we were each told individually that we should not be a nurse. And that was devastating, right? I'm early 20s, you know, trying just to get through this new and difficult experience and to be told you're not any good, you shouldn't do this, was devastating. And then honestly, I am really, really stubborn. Then I got mad and I'm pretty much like, you know what, lady? You don't get to tell me that. I'm going to finish this and whether or not I'm a nurse when I'm done, I'll have a bachelor's degree and yeah, no, you don't get to do that. So to some degree I finished nursing school, you know, cause I was also being told like, you can't do the job you want. That's going to take you half your life to be able to get and you can't do that and you can't do that. And I'm like, yeah, no, too bad. You're not going to be that easy. I'm gonna finish this and get done with it. And I would venture to say I am a very good nurse. And even if I had changed directions, it didn't matter. I'm like, I don't know what I would I'll do, but uh I'm gonna do this. yeah, again, don't let people define you and tell you, and there are people who are not kind. em And I feel like it did shape me as a nursing, people that were mean to nursing students, mean to me, made me feel bad or lesser, and it just made me be like, I'm not gonna be these people. Um, I'm not going to be that person. I'm not, I'm going to try even when I am an old nurse now, um, to be encouraging to people and show them that it's good and, and that you can do a good job and, and not every field is for everybody. That's okay. That's okay. Um, and that has happened. So, but you know, like with precepting or things like that, but, yeah. So don't people bring you down. So resilience, it does build a lot of resilience. em And then bonding goes with that. Like nursing puts you in a next level of stress and em you're finally like kind of the with your people. You're with people that have been on the same path that you want to go on. I think it's such a group of overachievers and compassionate, loving people that want to make a difference. Not just Sophie, but you've interviewed actually several of her friends and they're just such cool people. think nurses are the coolest people too. People are so just like down to earth and real and... They're just so cool. They're incredible and their stories. Like I just love, uh know, yeah, you're gonna hear a lot of the same things when we interview people and interview students. Yeah, there's a lot of commonalities. But what I love about the differences is that, is accentuating the differences and how those are like strengths. You know what I mean? You're talking about Sophie and her, you know, her swath of peers and friends and her cohort and just, you know what I mean? All of them. You know, every last one that passes, man, you're gonna make an incredible nurse. those that, know, whatever. And they, but each of them bring their own piece, their slice of life, their experiences to the table. And that is the other thing I think that you're alluding to there, Chris, is that we, you know, I always call it like a mosaic, right? Like we're all parts, we kind of carry these parts, pieces and parts of each other. uh But it's the other way around too, where each of these pieces that we bring individually, then maybe I'm the one that can't bring this certain result in a certain patient, but they leave me and they go to the next nurse down the road at some point and that's the one because of their life experience that man, they really get in there and they affect that patient's heart. I don't know, like I could talk about that forever, but it's like you're saying, like I just love how different people from different walks of life all come to the same career and yet offer vastly different skill sets from a from a personality slash person-based situation, right? yeah. And then the last is challenging, which we've touched on quite a bit, it's also, like you've said, and without going too deep into it, some of the, besides nursing school itself being challenging, the career being challenging, and some of the most difficult. terrible things you get to help people through. different things I've had the chance to go back and reconnect with people who've gone through a loss, let's say, and find out how the things we do, what a difference it makes to people. So don't shy away from the things that are challenging. I feel like that's the theme of your whole episode. love it. All right, so with that, with that being said, and you've given so much incredible advice, practical and otherwise, what is the one thing you want people to walk away from your episode holding onto and remembering? Um, well, I think it's just that nursing is awesome and your path is your own and it is going to shift and change em as you experience life. And don't, yeah, don't let other people tell you just, just walk your path and keep finding passion and, em treating people well and just doing your best and touching lives. And you've got this. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Walk through that challenge, get through that, meet that challenge, and you'll be all the more rewarded on the other side. Krista, thank you so much for giving up of your morning to just sit and chat and chew the fat about nursing. ah I cannot thank you enough. It is an honor to know you and your daughter. You guys are just an amazing, amazing family, and I can't thank you enough. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Have a great day.