Happy NEW YEAR ! It’s 2026 and I am beyond excited for all the adventures and opportunities that await us this year.
First of all let me get into some career updates:
On the 14th of September 2025 I completed my 9 month nursing internship
On the 25th of November 2025 I graduated with a BSc. General Nursing Degree from Trinity College Dublin (whoop) !
On the 5th of January 2026 I started working on a medical ward. During my first week of work I accidentally took the drug trolley keys home not once but TWICE. I live 40 minutes away from my hospital so I had to drive back twice… The amount of money I spent on petrol that week ? Nahhh lets not talk about it. The first time it happened was my first day as a nurse and I thought to myself “rookie mistake” but the second time in the same week? Nahhh I was fuming at myself. This is your reminder to CHECK YOUR POCKETS before you go home.
As I write this I have been working on the wards now for just going on 8 weeks and I feel like I am finally settling in. I took a 4 month break from September 14th 2025 when I qualified to January 5th 2026 to travel , rest and spend quality time with my family and friends. I solo travelled to Portugal and Amsterdam and truly enjoyed myself. I love the liberty of solo travelling, no need to worry about anyone else but yourself. (Book that solo trip!) I also went on trips with my friends to Poland and Scotland. Travelling is truly one of my favourite pastimes and I acknowledge what a privilege it is to travel and see the world and explore new horizons. During my break I worked the odd agency shift as a healthcare assistant to keep me going as otherwise I was what I like to call “funemployed” and I was living off my savings. I actually briefly considered taking a whole gap year before returning to full time work as a nurse but as tempting as that thought was , the wards were calling me and I answered.
I celebrated my graduation on Saturday the 6th of December at my church. I organised a Thanksgiving service and invited my friends and family to join me to give thanks to God for seeing me through four years of Nursing school. Shout out to my friend Torera for helping me to organise the whole thing - Check out her events planning business “one.stop.t.events” on Instagram. There was games , worship , a word and food. It was truly the most wonderful day and I will cherish those memories forever.
Starting on the wards as a staff nurse was such a shock to my system , it took me about 5 weeks to really warm up to my new role. Being a staff nurse is definately super different to being a intern nurse. I can no longer say “One moment let me ask the nurse” because now I AM the nurse. The level of responsibility from student to staff is like night and day and as scary as it seems I keep having to remind myself that “I’ve successfully qualified” , “I have been training for this for the past 4 years , I can do this”. Like with starting anything new , it‘s definately normal to feel like you’ve been thrown in the deep end. However , I can confidently say eventually you will learn to swim.
Thats all from me for now
Here is to being more consistent on here and sharing the highs and lows of nursing with you all.
Thank you for being here
Jen - The newest RGN x
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