6 Reasons Why Nursing Is Such A Rewarding Career

Why do you do what you do? Why did you choose the career you’re in right now, or perhaps
the one you’re intending to go into once your studies are done or your circumstances
change? Everyone will have their reasons; it could be that the money was good, or that the
location meant a shorter commute. For some, the job will be exactly what they have always
wanted to do, and what they have studied for. Others might have accidentally fallen into their
particular career path and decided they liked it enough to stay (or they changed direction
and started doing something else).
Depending on your reasons for doing the job you do, you’ll either find it extremely rewarding
or you’ll simply go, do what you have to do, and leave again, glad to be out of your
workplace and heading back home.
Something that is important to bear in mind is that we work for most of our adult lives, many
hours a week, and we’re often at work much more than we are at home or doing anything
else. So if you don’t enjoy it and if you don’t find it rewarding, there really is no point in
staying and continuing to do that work every day. It makes much more sense – even if it is a
scary thought – to train in a career that is going to be exciting, interesting, and rewarding. It
makes sense to have a career that you are excited to go to each day and that you don’t
dread leaving the house for.
Nursing is exactly this kind of career. There are so many reasons why nursing is extremely
rewarding and why it would make a great career for those who want to do more with their
lives and help people. It’s not for everyone, of course; nursing is a lot of hard work, plenty of
studying, and you need to have a caring nature, and not everyone is able to do this.
However, if you can and it is something you think you would be good at, there is no time like
the present to make a start. Here are some of the reasons why nursing is so rewarding, and
once you understand them, you might decide that you want to take the next step in your
nursing career:

Nurses Improve The Lives Of Others
If you think about most careers, the main focus of them is to improve your own life. You will
work to earn money and gain recognition, and this is enough for many people. However,
there are some careers – the very special ones – that not only enhance the life of the person
carrying out the job, but greatly enhances the lives of everyone they come into contact with.
This is unusual, but nursing allows it to happen.
Being in hospital can be a frightening experience, even if it is where someone needs to be to
be cared for. A nurse will help them to get through the fear and to feel more at peace. Even if
they are feeling very alone or worried about the future, a nurse will be able to calm them and
take care of them, and this in itself is a good way to start healing.
Another task that nurses will take on is to care for the friends and family of the sick people
too. Not in a clinical sense, perhaps, but as a liaison between them and the doctors who are
treating their loved one, and as a shoulder to cry on when things are hard. Nurses soon
become invaluable as a source of kindness and compassion at a difficult time.
Plus, there are the clinical tasks. If you have ever been in a hospital or know anything about
medicine, you will know how vital the nurses are to the overall smooth running of any
department. They are, when they have the knowledge and experience required, able to
almost pre-empt what a doctor is going to ask for.

If you ever wanted a career in which you are an absolutely vital part of a very important
team, nursing has to be it.
Nursing Offers A Career For Life
If you love nursing and if you are willing to work hard, it can definitely be a career you can
have for your entire working life. No matter what age you start, even if you go back to school
and start studying for a nursing degree after working elsewhere and trying other things, once
you have that qualification and find the niche you want to work in (because there are many
different types of nursing careers that range from taking care of newborn babies to being
with the elderly when they are dying to working in an OR and much more) you won’t ever
have to change careers again.
There are very few jobs that offer such wonderful opportunities. Even if you want to move to
a different state or perhaps another country, with your nursing degree and a good reputation
you will be able to find work wherever you go. This relieves a lot of stress and helps you to
be more confident when choosing a career. When you are a nurse, you can be a nurse until
you are due to retire. Even afterwards, when you are no longer working in a hospital, you
can use your nursing skills as a volunteer or as a coach or tutor. There are many different
paths and you will certainly never be bored, or out of work.
There Is Plenty Of Career Progression
When you are a nurse, you will have a lot of choices to make. You could, for example, study
to become a particular type of nurse (perhaps one who works with cancer patients, or who
helps with mental health patients) and remain doing that for your entire career. Or you could
start in one area and decide that you would like to work in another at a later date, switching
(and working on additional qualifications if need be) when you feel ready.
You will also need to decide at which level you want to work. You will start at a ‘lower’ level
of nursing, and if you enjoy the work and don’t want to take on any additional responsibilities,
you can stay at that level for your entire career if you want to do that. Or you can continue to
learn, to gain additional qualifications, and move up the ranks, becoming a DNP or similar. It
will depend on your ambitions and your abilities, and that is one of the amazing things about
nursing; it is open to all, no matter what level you want to work at.
If you do want to progress, there are specialist online DNP programs that you can study at
your own pace in your own time. This is perfect as nursing is a full time commitment, and
taking time out to study, even if it is for career enhancement, will be difficult. By learning
online when you are able to, you won’t have to miss out and you won’t have to put your work
on hold while you study; it’s the ideal solution.
Having a career in which progression is attainable through your own hard work is definitely a
reason to see nursing as rewarding. You can progress as much or as little as you are
comfortable with, and at every stage there will be mentors and helpers around to assist you.
You are never alone when you are a nurse.
Nurses Work With A Variety Of People
Something that is just as rewarding as everything else we have mentioned so far but that is
often forgotten is that nurses are able to work with a vast variety of different people, and that
is exciting. It is also life enhancing; you will learn a lot about other beliefs, cultures, and
humanity in general in this way.
The truth is that people from all walks of life take the decision to be nurses. As long as they
are caring and hard working, it’s the perfect job for many people, and that means you will be
working will all kinds of different backgrounds, faiths, ethnicities, ages, sexes, and more. The

nursing world is open to all as long as you have the correct qualifications, and it is likely you
will make lifelong friends whom you would never have met if it wasn’t for nursing.
The extra knowledge that can be gained by being with different people and learning ‘on the
job’ is extraordinary, and if you choose to become a nurse you must be open to
understanding many different ideas. Why is this so rewarding? It’s because you can then
use your new understanding in the wider world, helping others to know more too. Not
everyone is in the position to be able to do this, so as a nurse if you are that is very special
indeed.
There Is Always Someone There For You
There are some jobs that advocate lone working. This is not a bad thing in itself, but some
people do find they get very lonely after a while, and they want to be with other people. As a
nurse, this is not something you need to worry about. There will always be people around
you to support you, help you, and to share your worries and concerns with. There will, in
other words, be people around you at all times who you can completely rely on.
This means that nursing won’t leave you feeling alone and overwhelmed. You will be able to
let people know if you are having problems, and learn how to deal with the situation you are
in from people who have been through it all before. This is extremely rewarding as it means
you can move forward much more confidently and be happier to make decisions knowing
that you will have all the backup you need to do so. Nursing is such an important,
responsible career that being left alone is not an option; you don’t have to worry about it.
Why would you need someone to talk to when you are a nurse? We can’t hide from the fact
that nurses have hard days as well as rewarding ones. Patients will die, get sicker,
unforeseen problems can occur, and the work is stressful and all-consuming; you are going
to need to have people behind you to talk to and discuss the day with, and if they have been
through it with you, all the better.

The Work Life Balance
The work life balance is something that we are always told is very important. It is the right
balance between working and being productive and being with your family, your friends, and
taking time for yourself. The idea of nursing being a rewarding career that offers this work life
balance seems strange because we have the idea that nursing is about very long shifts,
overtime, and working every weekend and at night.
Although that is true – nurses do have long shifts and they do have to work nights and
weekends, and they work on public holidays too – they also get time off to make up for this.
If you work unsociable hours, you get even more time off in between shifts to ensure that
you are ready to work. After all, the hospital or clinic management team is going to want its
nurses to be working at their best, and not giving them enough sleep or time to relax is not
going to help to achieve this.
When you are a nurse, there is a work life balance. It might be a slightly different balance to
that which can be achieved if you work in a 9 to 5 job, for example, but it is certainly
something to consider, and the fact that you are able to spend quality time with your family
and friends or enjoy a hobby means that the hard work is always going to be worth it.