Have you ever had one of those days? Like, I’m talking about the kind of day where you hit a brick wall mentally in what you feel like you can handle for the shift, but then you realize you have to keep going? Through that concrete wall?! Yeah, I had one of those recently. It happens in the field of nursing.
But thankfully there’s also the days where you wanna pinch yourself and say, “I can’t believe they’re paying me so much to do this!”
Regardless of the day, good or bad, crazy busy or super slow, blessed or a mess, you can typically think of some amusing ways to describe it. I know when I was losing my marbles the other day I thought of a really good one. So, without further ado, here’s 35 descriptions of nursing, or comparisons, if you will, that I thought might brighten your day. Enjoy.
Nursing is like…
- Forest Gump’s box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.
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A magician’s handkerchief. You can think you’ve reached the end of a task, but it just keeps coming and coming.
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Working in a restaurant. It’s either dead or dinner rush.
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Murphy’s Law on Steroids.
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Reading stereo instructions. Upside down. In Mandarin.
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Riding a bicycle. On ice. Very thin ice.
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A cruise. On the Titanic.
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Final exams. But if you fail someone dies.
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The movie Groundhog Day.
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That dream where you’re falling.
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Being lost in the desert. Your lunch break is the oasis in the distance. But it keeps being a mirage.
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The nightmare where you’re naked in front of a classroom. Except the class is your patient’s family. And the speech you’re giving is the answer to irrelevant questions.
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A debate. And your opponent is WebMD.
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A Maury episode. “You stated you didn’t need anything else. Your use of the call light 0.2 seconds later determined that to be a lie.
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Being a firefighter. But all your extinguishers and hoses are filled with gasoline. And there’s no accessible emergency exit.
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Playing Tetris. Your level is the elevator. Before the door closes you have to stack your patient, bed, IV pole, Respiratory Therapist, transporter, and self. God Speed.
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Being a lip reader.
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Being a mind reader.
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Playing Good Cop/Bad Cop. You play both parts. In the same shift.
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Waiting tables. But there’s no tips.
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An episode of Dr. G.
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An episode of Hoarders.
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An episode of Intervention.
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An episode of My Strange Addiction.
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That song from The Lamb Chop Show. “This is the shift that never ends. It just goes on and on my friend!”
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Being the coyote on Road Runner when he would run into a brick wall thinking it was a light at the end of the tunnel, then get up and keep the chase going.
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Being lost in the woods, thinking you’re about to find your way out over the next ridge, then realizing you just walked in a circle.
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Leading a horse to water, but then it getting admitted within thirty days for dehydration.
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Being a personal assistant to a Kardashian. Not the ones on the show, but maybe one of their less well-known cousins.
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Being a superhero, but anyone who knows you just thinks you’re Clark Kent or Peter Parker.
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Those circus performers who balance multiple spinning plates on tiny poles.
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MacGyver. With fewer supplies on hand.
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A plane going down, and trying to remember to put on your own mask before helping others.
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Dinner at the inappropriate relatives’ table. Have you heard the conversations at the nurses’ station?!
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Nothing you see on the medical dramas on television!
What ones can you add? Let me know in the comments.