152 - Kim Wiest Pt 1: I Became a Nurse By Accident

Join nurse practitioner and Grafton, West Virginia, and North Carolina native Honored Guest Kim Wiest as she waxes eloquent about her hero, how she accidentally became a nurse, her “messy twin,” her incredible career progression (and funny stories along the way), starting in psych right out of nursing school, nursing being an ever-changing field, and more!

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Transcript

0:01

Good morning and welcome to this episode of the Feeding Our Young® podcast. It's funny when I say good morning, because you might be listening to this in the afternoon or the evening or the middle of the night. But for us here, it's morning and for some of us a little earlier than others. But today, I'm so excited to introduce an amazing woman who has graciously allowed uh some time here in studio to talk all things her nursing career, all things functional medicine, all things I'm just I'm excited for you to meet this wonderful woman. And to be honest, I'm excited to meet her too, because we do not travel in the same circles other than because of this little podcast. But the reason why we have her on, it has nothing to do with nursing at all. Nope. The reason why we have her on is because rumor has it that her hometown is the birthplace of Mother's Day, which is ironic to me because I live and was born in and currently live in the birthplace of Father's Day. So therefore, we've got Mothers and Father's Day covered. And I'm very excited to have the one, the only, Kimberly Wiest in studio. Kim, how are you this fine morning? I am doing great. I've already checked some boxes off this morning. I've been to the gym and I have wrangled some dogs into submission and so I'm ready to go. I wish I could say the same about my children, but I have not so uh We only do the best we can there as far as that goes But I've already kind of let a little bit of the cat out of the bag So let's uh let's just start right off because I know there's a lot you and I are gonna probably end up talking quite a bit here so we already know that Kim is gonna be a two-part episode here, and we're gonna dive right in so with that Kim Since I let the cat out of the bag, where is this hometown, the birthplace Mother's Day? What's home for you and where do you live? So currently I live in North Carolina, and I've lived here for 30 years, um but I was born in West Virginia, my hometown is Grafton, West Virginia. And yes, it is the home of Mother's Day. So I went to Anna Jarvis Elementary School, and Anna Jarvis is the lady who wanted to honor her mother and honor all mothers. And so she... actually petitioned the government to make this an official holiday, but it started by just her writing uh a poem about her mother and giving her mother some flowers and just doing, you know, the general nice things that we like to do for our moms. And as a matter of fact, we have uh her... Her birthplace, Anna Jarvis' birthplace is still there. uh Anna Jarvis Elementary School is still there and thriving. And we actually have a Mother's Day shrine. So it is a church. uh And my sister got married in that church. So it's beautiful church. That is incredible. And I saw that on your, you sent back to me and I was like, that is just outstanding. And I won't get into the history of it here, but it sounds like it's a similar story on how Father's Day got started. Of course, Mother's Day, I believe came first and there was a wonderful woman here who's like, no, you know what I mean? Fathers need their time too. And anyway, petitioned and all the things. And so Spokane is known as the place where uh Father's Day got started as well. But thank you for that little background. I absolutely love it. uh So we've kind of already covered that. It sounds like you're already a nurse, not currently in nursing school. So what degrees have you obtained along your way here, just in a nice brief synopsis? So I started um as an um associate's degree nurse and um did my thing for a couple of years and then I went back and got my baccalaureate degree and then I went again and I um actually got a master's degree as a nurse practitioner and I functioned as a nurse practitioner for about 12 years and then I went back to school again and I'm currently a nurse anesthetist. So I got a postgraduate certificate in that. And honestly, when I started my journey, thought, associate's degree, the fastest thing. I have another story about how I even uh got into the nursing program, it quite by accident. just stepwise, I just uh got my degree to get started and then little by little by little just built onto it. Which I love that about nursing, is that not only can you do that with your education, but you can do that with. wherever you focus, wherever you work, whether it's MedSurg or Psych or ER or OR or whatever. Yes, and I actually, I never call my Honored Guests liars, but I don't know that I fully believe you. It must mean you probably started nursing at about the age of 12, because you don't seem old enough to carry all of that education behind you. Yeah, fully 56 here. There we go! That's all I'm talking about. it sounds like you are proud of that fact. I always tell people, like, you know, oh gosh, I'm so old. I'm like, well, what did you expect to happen? We're all getting older, right? Like, we're enjoying life. Wonderful. Well then, the standard opening questions for you, Kim, and you answer them however you wish. Number one is, what are three of your favorite songs in life right now? So I exclusively listen to Jesus music. So I love these um blood bought boots and you know, devil get behind me that song. um And then I also, oh, I have no idea. That's alright, okay! So if anyone wants to know what they are, you'll see it on uh the Feeding Our Young®Spotify playlist. Go ahead, Kim, sorry. And then I love a heartfelt hallelujah. Awesome. Awesome. then my favorite song is probably a song by Van Morrison called Into the Mystic. And I just love him. I don't know how I ever got turned on to him, but I listen to sort of older kind of traditional singers, like from the 50s and 60s, and I just sort of find a song that I love, and then I go and I listen to everything that they've done. And that's what happened with Van Morrison. That's incredible. cannot wait to kind of dive into that myself and listen to this part of a, it's a vanity project. I just like hearing what people like to listen to because then I like, it gets a, I feel like it gives us a glimpse into who you are. And, and I just think that's fantastic. And the counter to that question also, what three words did you use or choose to use to describe nursing school? I said accidental calling and hearts. Ooh, I love it. I can't wait to discuss that at the end of, likely, episode two, y'all. But I already know, I've gotten a brief preview of where she's going with the accidental bit, and we're gonna get there, but not just yet. So thank you so much for that, Kim. ah With that then, a couple more like getting to know you questions and the kind of person that you are here, but. I love some of your responses here and So uh we'll just open with the very first one and that is, I really love this one, who is your hero? So my hero would be my grandfather. uh Nothing to do with medicine or nursing or anything like that. He's just one of the best humans that I know. The story goes that his mother, um Flossie, okay, now we're talking West Virginia. His mother, Flossie, could not have children, and there was a family down the street that had more children than they could really take care of. And so her, Flossie's husband, who I never met, um went down to this family and said, basically, can I have one of your children? And that was my grandfather. And, you know, coming from that just, just a strange kind of start, if you will. Yeah was just an amazing family man, just an amazing human being. He was funny. um He was just kind. He was always up for good time. So he's my hero. Oh my goodness. And so, I mean, it sounds like you got to know him very well, ah you know what mean, or at least well enough. Ian, so does, I mean, did that, let me back up. Did he live where you grew up or did you have to travel to see him? He lived in the same, well, like an unincorporated area next to the town that I lived in. So I lived in town and he lived on a farm, essentially. Not a huge farm, but you know, had some land, had some cows, uh had a huge garden. And every Friday night, my grandmother worked at a uh piece plant. not peace like this, but a piece plant where they actually sewed pieces together like they sewed a garment factory essentially. And on Fridays, um as she got off work about... about 3.34 o'clock, I would be home from school and she would drop by, pick me up, and then on Sundays she would bring me back because they um lived with well water, you know, and so they didn't have enough to actually wash their clothes. So she would come into the laundromat, I would help her do the laundry for the week, and then she would drop me off at home. So every weekend for pretty much most of my life, um until I was in my 20s, you know, um I would spend with them, so yeah. that's incredible. And I know that there's a lot of people out there would go, okay, I know where we're going with this because a lot of people are like, well, I became a nurse because of so and so and this and that and whatever the case may be. But your story is a little bit different if I'm not mistaken, Kim. uh Let's go ahead and start off with that all encompassing question. Why nursing for you? How did you get into nursing? Well, that's where the accident comes in. I was gonna be a political science major. Why? I have no idea. I thought that I wanted to be, I really wanted to be a lobbyist. And now I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't even believe that that was in my vocabulary, on my agenda ever in my life. Cause I'm the least political person now. I don't watch news. I don't have a TV. don't... None of that. am so anti-lobbying now. I was the line to sign up for college in the political science major was really long. Why? I have no idea, but it was really long. And I was uh not really the best and most inspired student at that point. I was a great student in high school and I don't know what happened between high school and college, but I was just kind of, just sort of uh m not putting in a whole lot of effort. And I saw this line next to the political science line where people were signing up and I just got in that line and that happened to be the line for nursing school. I, like, when I read that, I'm thinking to myself, you a lot of people just amazing inspirational stories. I'm not one of those, you know what mean? I wasn't a first career nurse myself, but it just was, it's one of those things where I go, you became a nurse by accident, and yet later on you go to say, not by accident. So continue to expound on this wonderful story. So, and you know, when I first got into nursing school, like I said, I wasn't an inspired student. I was kind of all over the place. I was disorganized. I was really kind of phoning it in, I guess because I was smart enough that I could. do the work and understand the stuff. Like I've always been a science person and I like the body. it just, you know, what I was learning made sense to me that I just didn't put in a whole lot of effort. The first time that I went to school and I told you I got another degree and I was a much better student and you know, it just, you know, not only did my degrees go on, but so did, you know, so did my effort and my return and you know, what I learned and that sort of thing also amplify each time I went back to school. So I was a much better student each time I went. That's just incredible. And I love that. It's interesting to me because I can already hear people going, my gosh. So you just kind of, you know, flubbed your way through nursing school, which for some people are like, I'm barely making it. You know what mean? Like that and keeping that head above water and just trying to work the hardest. But it sounds to me like you come from that uh that populace where I'd say I'd probably put myself in going through nursing school where you're more of that book smart, you know, whether or not you were disciplined. That's the piece that I'm hearing that maybe, you know what mean? But the book's smart of it, you were able to kind of rely on that to just kind of fall back on. And then it took the other portion of that some bit to maybe formulate, right? Like the clinical side of things in practice. Would that be kind of an accurate description? Yes, yes, I really um you know, going to clinicals and the expectations of you sort of being kind of organized and, you know, methodical and, you know, all that sort of thing. I'm a Gemini. So I have two parts of my personality and they are polar opposites and I embrace both. And so I just sort of feel like when, you know, when I first went into nursing school and the way that I got in and the way that I went through that first associate's degree was my messy, you know, sort of dark haired twin and then no other twins sort of came out as we went along. But you know looking back I realized that none of that was by accident and you know we don't always recognize that um things are happening for us. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. for us for our most good. And when I look back now and I just think about like, when someone asked me the question about, you know, why did you become a nurse? And I'm like, I don't know, you know, was probably by accident. um I really do have to stop and think about that, about how much divine design was in that and truly things happening for me. And now that I look back, I can't imagine doing anything but this. This is truly where I needed to end up and truly where I would have ended up. You know, if it hadn't happened exactly that way, it would have been, you know, it would have happened another way. But yeah, so it wasn't by accident. I say it was, but it wasn't. and in the time you're thinking, well, you know, I just look at like, if there's any more literal picture of these choices we have in life, you are literally in one line and you literally stepped out of that line for reasons unbeknownst to you at the time to get into another line. And literally you're looking at like who where your life would have gone, you who knows where your life would have been if you had stayed in the first line and you went down this. Obviously, you and I are not having this conversation. ah If that happens so it just I love that aspect of life that you go, you know I there's that whole destiny versus free will and all of that business and um and I still genuinely believe in ah in free will in the fact that we do get to shoot so so, know going back to dialing back to my Children's pastor days and things of that nature like well, you know, no God has a plan for you and you know, this is your plan and and that's it and it's like well, yes and no You know, what I understand to be true is that he doesn't override free will, therefore we have free will to choose what we want to do, but he definitely knows where we're going and what we're doing. You know what mean? He knew the 56-year-old Kim, he knows the 49-year-old Eric, he knows the, you know what I mean, from way before we were born. And so that has always, like if you just take time and contemplate that for a bit, you can go down some pretty long roads in that regards, but I just love that aspect of the combination of free will and while also this idea of destiny and predetermination. Yeah, well, you know, I mean, he allows us to choose, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't stalk us down until we choose correctly. No, if it didn't happen then it might have happened later, you know, like, who knows? true. I love that. I love that. Well, speaking of that, so, you know, we're kind of, I feel like we've just skipped over this giant piece of your life. ah But, you know, we're talking nursing school, and I love that you also want to talk about, you know, one of your favorite topics being nursing as an ever-changing field. But let's address that in the practical sense, talking about your ever-changing career path. ah You know, we all have this idea of, okay, well, you know, when you're in nursing school, I'm going to do this, and I'm so excited for me. You know, Peds Oncology. Night shift that was gonna be my career period it put it just to put an exclamation point at the end of it and then yet here I am a version of myself I never envisioned so Take us down that road would you Kim like where did you start and what have you done along the way? Okay, so, um you know, kind of like going through nursing school, I just, you know, didn't have that discipline, didn't have that laser focus. And when we ended up graduating, so I kind of have a funny story. You know, back 35 years ago when I took boards, it was a two-day affair and it was proctored. And I don't know where those proctors found their shoes, but they... didn't have taps on them, but it was like these heavy, almost like work boots, and they walked the room. So you're in this room with 300 other people. They only give the test a couple times a year. So if you miss that test and you mess up or they think you're cheating and you get kicked out, you have to wait a long time before you can take the test again. So the proctors are walking around and what they said, you know, they really scared us and they said, if we see your eyes looking anywhere else but on your paper and it was pen, you know, it was written, it was like fill in the dot, you know, those standardized tests. It was like that. And if we even think that you're cheating, we're gonna take your test and you are done, you're out of there. So, I mean, everybody was freaking out. Well, there was a girl that had a grand mal seizure. During the test, I'm sure it was stress. She had a grand mal seizure. She is incontinent. She falls out of her chair. She's on the ground. Not one nursing student moved. No one moved. I mean, the proctors were right there, but no one moved. And I was like, oh my gosh. That's just very telling about sort of how you feel at the end of nursing school. You're like, I ain't messing this up for nothing. was a lot of work. uh So I got my associate's degree, and I sort of didn't have a lot of direction. I wasn't sure what I wanted. Nothing was drawing me. to do this. It wasn't any of that. um I went into psych nursing and um I worked on an adult ward that had It was a locked ward and we got all kinds of people. So I did that for a couple of years and then I decided that I was going to work in neonatal intensive care unit. I interviewed for that position. I was moving 500 miles away. I interviewed for the position over the phone and I uh rented an apartment site unseen. So myself and my roommate just moved to North Carolina and that's how I got here. um And I started doing neonatal intensive care and and then I transitioned from neonatal intensive care to adult intensive care and just sort of kept, I've really always worked in the emergency room, the intensive care unit. I've never done med surge. I've never done, you know, I've done pediatric ICU, I've you know, neonatal intensive care again, but I've never really worked the floor. Like I've never done, I... did dialysis for a very short period of time. um But yeah, so I've always done those. It just seems like really intense kind of things. um And then I went back to school. um By that time I lived in Hawaii. um I went back to school and I got my baccalaureate degree and I went through the University of Phoenix because I was still a practice, you know, I was still working. And so that was the sort of the best way. um you know, to do that. And I have another funny story. So you can edit these out if you need to, but certainly this is a funny story. no, we are keeping the funny stories in sister, that's how this is working. So oh the classes that I took were in a high rise, like a uh 30 story high rise in, well don't know, maybe 15 stories, because I think they have a limitation, in downtown Honolulu. So downtown Honolulu. um classes started like five o'clock and we would go until eight, a couple days a week. So it was pretty intense, like you're there, you're really there. And I don't know if you know anything about University of Phoenix, but a lot of stuff that you do is like group stuff and you learn with a group and you do like group projects for most of what you do. And so there was a... an opportunity that whatever we were learning, I had to stand up and do a presentation at the front of the room. Well, how it was is that everybody was facing this way, oh know, facing me, obviously, away from the windows in the back that looked out over Waikiki Bay. And so I'm giving my presentation and there is like... crazy stuff happening out there in Waikiki Bay. So they have this boat that blows up, catches on fire, I'm not kidding, catches on fire, and then there's a helicopter rescue coming to get whoever was in the water or whoever was what. And I'm giving this presentation, I'm like, oh my God, like right in the middle of my presentation. And so when I came back into the room the next week, it was actually all the chairs were turned to the side. And I was like, okay, all right, so, yeah. I'm gonna pause you here at this moment because I'm like, your ability to stay focused amidst whatever challenges show their way, like this is just blowing my mind. You're talking about the NCLEX, the boards, someone's having a grand mal seizure and you're like, I just envision y'all going like, okay, we're praying for this wonderful human being, but I am looking directly at my test. I'm not even watching what's going on over there. And then you've got this presentation you're giving. Yeah. and then you're giving this presentation. You're like, I'm just gonna keep going. There's no way I can stay focused. Oh my goodness. Okay, continue. I'm sorry. just kudos to you. to stay focused. my goodness. And then I went back, um you know, at that point I sort of started to hit my stride a little bit in nursing and recognized that yes, this is exactly what I was meant to do. And so I went to Vanderbilt University and I got um a master's degree as an acute care nurse practitioner. That was a wonderful experience, just an amazing experience, but I did that whole master's program in one year. So I had to go to the Dean. had to, so you can see the transition from somebody that had no clue what they were gonna do, uninspired, to now going to the Dean of the nursing school to say, I have to get this done in a year. I have to take 21 hours. I have to do, you know, so they allowed me to take more hours as long as my grades stayed up and that sort of thing. And I did. I got my master's in one year. um And then I worked, um I was a nurse practitioner for about 11 or 12 years and I did a couple of cool things when I did that. So I worked for a cardiothoracic surgeon uh and you know, I sort of feel like cardiothoracic uh medicine is really kind of cookie cutter. It really is. You think it's not, but it's really cookie cutter. Like you do the same things the same way. You give the same medications. do, you know, like everything is just. very routine and I did not like that. I just did not like that at all. Plus I really didn't mesh with the person that I worked with. Anyway, that's a whole nother podcast. But I was split between, because I was the first nurse practitioner hired in this group. uh actually that's not true, I was the second. And... They weren't quite sure how they were gonna use me, but I also worked for a gentleman surgeon whose specialty was breast cancer. And we did general surgery. We did a lot of general surgery, but his sort of claim to fame was breast cancer. And I actually got certified, well, you don't get certified. I got trained and I got authorized by the insurance companies to do something called stereotactic breast biopsies, which uses It's like military uh ideas and training where you do triangulation and sort of azimuth of fire and that sort of thing for the artillery. It's the same thing when you do these uh ultrasound guided or mammogram guided biopsies, because you have to know how far up and down, how far left and right, how far in. You really have to get a 3D model of the breast by just looking in two planes. So anyway. I was the first nurse practitioner in North Carolina to do that. the insurance companies didn't quite know what to do with me, so they didn't pay me for them. They basically said, you're not smart enough to know how to do this. And I loved it because there were some, like I said, the doctor that I worked for, a gentleman surgeon, um was very good at those. But he allowed me to go and do that on my own as long as my results. were good. And so there were a couple of other um surgeons in the group that weren't great at those and they would miss the lesion and so they would come back and they would get referred to the doctor and if I would see them I would get those lesions a lot of times. And I love that. just, you know, taking people that come in, they're scared to death about this potential diagnosis and you give them, you know, you do whatever, you know, the surgery, you give them this diagnosis. And then you watch them, you sort of carry them through the whole, um they blossom. They blossom, they figure out that they're stronger than they ever thought that they were, that they have more faith in their family, their relationships are more important, all of that kind of stuff. And then on the other end, they are a cancer survivor and they're just a totally changed person in good ways, like in really good ways. And then I did that for about 12 years and the gentleman surgeon that I was working with decided that he was going to retire and I just couldn't, I had so much autonomy and I was so respected. I was viewed as a peer and I just thought, I just thought, you know, I don't know that I can be pigeonholed and sort of just be a helper because I really did have a fairly independent practice. So I went into anesthesia. I went Back to school again, I got a postgraduate certificate um in anesthesia and I still do anesthesia now. And how long have you been doing that last aspect? Uh, since 2007. So what is that? Here? Yeah. years. Yeah. Wow. Wow. I just love the very like you started not knowing where and any nursing students, obviously, know, nurses, my goodness, you know, you've got your own stories and we want to hear them here. But a little little plug. But, you know, you've got your stories, nursing students who have yet to write your story. Like for those students that are like, I have no idea. I have students who are like, well, where are you leaning? You know, what do you want to do? And I've got zero clue, Eric. Great, that's okay, because you're not the first one to have zero clue. And there's so many things you can do. So, Kim, if you want to speak towards, actually I have two questions. Let's do both these questions and that should round out this very first episode. But the first question is, I'm dialing it back again. You come at a nursing school, you're an associate's prepared nurse, you're ready to hit the floor, and you go into psych. uh Not a lot of students I know that I've had the pleasure of speaking with start there. So what was that like as a new grad? I mean, stories from that time just kind of give us a glimpse into that window of it being the fresh grad into a rather interesting specialty, for lack of a terms. Again, uninspired Kim. They needed nurses and I knew, I sort of had an in and I knew that I was gonna get the job. I didn't really have to apply myself a lot. And that's why I into, I went into psych and you know, I was a little, I was like, okay, I, I accidentally went to nursing school. I got through nursing school without a whole lot of problems. And I'm like, I'm going to get there and I'm going to go to do something and I'm not going to know what I'm doing. So I was a little intimidated by that. You know what I'm saying? I was like, this really shouldn't have been, this should have been harder. That's what I've kind of kept telling myself. This should have been harder. I missed something. So I could ease my way into nursing by going, into psych because there's not a lot of nursing, you know, there's a lot of talking, there's a lot, you know, you have to really understand and these were sick people, know, mentally ill, yes, but also sick physically because it was a locked psych ward and if you've ever thought about psych nursing, I mean these people are on... big time medications and it really affects every part of their body. It affects their health. It might start out as a mental illness, but it really becomes a systemic health issue. So it just wasn't heavy in putting in catheters and all that kind of stuff that I was a little intimidated by. So I went into that and I actually, I loved it. I loved it. I have so many stories. There's some really interesting people that I met while I was there. There was, I'll tell you a funny, I'll tell you another funny story. This is so crazy. This person was a hoarder. Okay, so this person was a nurse. She was a nurse. She was a maternity nurse and she thought that she was pregnant. Now, she looked pregnant. She didn't look obese. She looked pregnant, but she was like 60-something years old. So she had this, you know, her mental illness was that she thought that she was pregnant. They did pregnancy tests on her that were negative. How many pregnancy tests has she done in her career that was she came out negative? The person was. was actually pregnant. So you couldn't convince her. You couldn't use any logic for her. So they were trying to get her medications correct and she was really kind of a little bit unsettled. She was doing some dangerous activity. she needed the the milieu, if I can use my favorite psych word, milieu. She needed the milieu of a locked unit, but she was a hoarder. And so we were noticing, and what you do with hoarders, or at least back then the idea was that you don't challenge them on that, that you just sort of go in and you weed out. when the hoarding gets to be a certain volume, you just sort of go in and eat it. Well, what we were noticing is that at dinner time, they got white napkins and she was saving those, she wasn't using those. And at lunchtime, you would get brown napkins, like paper napkins, and so she was saving those. And we weren't quite sure what she was doing. She spent a lot of time in her room, but when we went to like... weed out her hoarder, you know, take some of her hoard away. What we found is the most intricate nest made out of those that brown paper towel rolled into these things that look like twigs and it was woven with just, it looked like a bird made it. It looked like a bird's nest. And then the white was fashioned into an egg. And I was like, okay, I'm done. Maybe she's, I don't know. You know. Oh my goodness. And I like to, without uh minimizing the incredibleness of that story, I tell my students all the time, I'm like, you get into nursing and you'll be able to at the end of your career, however long that is, be able to say sentences you never thought you'd be able to say before. I've given IV arsenic to a patient. I've transfused white blood cells. You have witnessed a patient build a nest. um An intricate, woven. Nests out of napkins. Those are things that I think when, you know, not focused Kim got into the other line and started nursing, you don't anticipate these things. And yet here we are. yeah, and I just think that nurses, you know, really do understand the human condition because we've just seen so, so much of it. We've seen so much of it, like all the things that I've seen, all the things that you've seen, all the things that... nurses have seen in general. And the thing is, is that when you come back, I can tell you this story and you appreciate it and your listeners will appreciate it. But I tell that story to someone who isn't in the medical field and they're like, what? They don't get it. They don't get how just amazing, incredible the mind is to protect this person. Yes, yes, very well said. And so, I mean, that's the specificality of your nursing journey. What do you want to say from a general standpoint to the listening audience as far as your passionate topic about nursing being an ever-changing field? And we'll wrap your first episode up with this before we jump into part two. that nursing is as uh unique and varied as medicine is in general. If there is something that attracts you or something that you feel passionate about or feels like a calling to you that if you just keep an open mind and an open heart and open eyes and ears you will find your perfect job. And so I would I would encourage you to keep looking until you do find your perfect job. What I hate to see is that there are nurses who are in doing stuff that they don't love. And there are people who need you to love what you're doing. And so there's as many jobs as there are people. You can find that unique position that just speaks to you. you know, like I said, psych to neonatal intensive care, to adult intensive care, you know, to the emergency room. to, I mean, that was my journey. And I finally found what I loved. Once I was a nurse practitioner and I was going into the operating room, I loved that. So it was a great transition for me to go into anesthesia, right? Because I was in the area that I loved. But there's so many opportunities out there and the way that nursing is changing now that if there's not an opportunity out there that speaks to you, make one. Suggest one. yes. so two thoughts on this to piggyback. The perfect job. You you talk about the search for the perfect job and I feel like lot of students today too is like, want to start off in the perfect job. And you may not, like you're saying. But also, I feel like the perfect job may change. Yes? Like, you can be in the perfect job and then that perfect job doesn't become the perfect job anymore. Where you're like, like you said, there's some nurses who, are not passionate for the area they're in. Maybe they held a passion for that first, you know, some years ago or time ago. Maybe they never did and they just settled, you know, quote unquote settled. I don't know. Like, uh again, anywhere you end up as a nurse, my gosh, you're taking care of people. You will have people's lives in your hands. You're you are doing the thing. So don't diminish yourself there. But if you are listening and going, gosh, what Kim is saying is like really speaking out to me, like I'm not in my perfect job. It doesn't matter how old you are. That's the other piece I can speak towards here. You can, for me, I've said it before. I was like, can I teach this old dog new tricks when I realized, my gosh, I need to make a change. And it turns out you can. And it's terrifying and it's exhilarating all at the same time. And if I had not, if I had stayed pigeonholed, and that's a weird thing to say when I entered a career that I thought I would do for the rest of my career, you know what I mean? I didn't stay quote unquote, pigeon hold and we know those nurses that do, the ones that are, you you get comfortable, you have not all the answers but a majority of the answers, you can help people, you're the one people come to for advice and you feel good in that regards and that you are comfortable in those regards but then you're like, this all the other aspect of that, whether it's burnout or you know what mean, you're just no longer passionate for something, it's, it becomes a place. And the second thought, as I'm just rambling on here, but the second thought that of what I love about what you say there, Kim, is A, find your perfect job because B, if you're in an area that is not quote unquote your perfect job or you're definitely, you know you're not passionate about, you're keeping, you're holding a spot for someone who is passionate about that particular field or job. And so, It's ideal if you move on to find me leaving Peds Oncology opened the doors to somebody else who had fresh passion, ready to go, and that otherwise I was maybe in a sense physically blocking from getting that opportunity in our area. I mean, does that make sense? Yes, yes. And so, and you know, you're not doing your best work if you're not matched with where you are. Like you're not giving the best care. You're not taking the time. You're not going the extra mile, which nurses are known for. You're just, you're not. And there's no shame in that. There's zero shame in that as a matter of fact because you're a person as well and maybe you have children or maybe your children have left the home or maybe you have an elderly parent that you have to take care of. Maybe your relationships at home have changed or maybe the requirements for you, maybe your health has changed. You know, there's no shame in that in matching energy, your energy, your needs, your circumstances with wherever you're working because you spend a lot of time at work and you really, it really needs to be someplace that you don't absolutely hate because that will show up in your own health. Mm-hmm in your own health and in how you treat others whether they're just your peers or also that will bleed into your practice and your patients will notice and that's to me that's the cardinal sin like that's where I was like Okay, and I see myself going down this road and I will not become that person ergo I need to make a change so speaking of passionate things you guys do not miss part two of the Kimberly Wiest experience We're gonna jump right on to the flip side of the side B of our wonderful Honored Guest because she's going to open up all the things that she is currently passionate about and it's going to be a marvelous discussion. So do not miss it. Let's catch you on the flip side.