A year ago I became a registered nurse. On this site, I never shared anything about nursing school while I was attending. The first I mentioned it was the night of my graduation with a bachelor of science in nursing (December 2013). I tend to prefer “afters” to “befores” or “durings! I’ve shared with you all that I’m gainfully employed as a nurse, but never shared what field or anything about my work (other than my lovely commute!). It’s nice to have Spy Garden as a place of leisure; where I don’t think about work, where the focus is purely on art and plants and other things I find interesting.
This month I started graduate school, I am seeking a doctorate of nursing practice (DNP). I sort of freaked out at first; grieving the loss of my leisure pursuits.
Would there be no more drawing, painting, sonnet-writing or gingerbread-Eiffel-tower building? No more socializing? No more contemplative and thoughtful gardening-as-art? So long to documenting the growth of the garden in hundreds of photographs! What about outings? Hiking? Yoga? Ever again? Maybe I can just throw some seeds down and see how things turn out?!
I was being a bit dramatic. There will still be gardening; there will ALWAYS be gardening! It’s just an adjustment. For now, the program is online (the clinical practice hours won’t start for another year or so) and so I can be really flexible with when I complete coursework (i.e. 4-6AM haha!) LOTS of reading, writing, discussions and research. Everything in APA format; no ellipses or sentence fragments or ambiguity. But these academic pursuits are not unimaginative and cold. There is a science AND art to nursing. There’s loads of room for creative and artistic expression in both nursing practice and in graduate nursing education. The expression is just distinct from the Spy Garden Status Quo I’d grown accustomed to. But change is the stuff of progress and growth. And you all know I love growth!
Spy Garden (both the garden and this website) shall still be cultivated. Maybe my post-format will change, maybe it won’t. Spy Garden may be my escape from citations and peer-reviewed journals and evidence-based practice…or it might be a place where I share these things. I’m not really sure! I do know that the frequency of posts will decrease; I’m aiming for a post a week. And so goes the beginning…I’m just a few weeks in…3-4 years to go!
Happy Saturday all!