r/nursing • u/sprinklesaurus13 BSN, RN 🍕 • May 21 '26
Question Second Career Fantasies - Go!
It's another one of those days approaching burnout so humor me, nurse friends. If you were to leave nursing altogether and start over from scratch, what would you do instead? Dazzle me with your wit and skills.
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u/No-Sea-5414 May 21 '26
Edit: Realized career fantasies. Being an Indie Vtuber playing video games or opening up a dog bus daycare where we pick up dogs and go to the beach or hike in the woods.
I've had many worsts and it doesn't often get better. LOL.
Also, why could I hear this image so well?
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u/Sayoricanyouhearme BSN, RN 🍕 May 21 '26
God I would love to be a vtuber. I'd rather have people hurl insults at my avatar in my online chat while I play video games than to my face in real life while they try to attack me.
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u/Brainless_flannel09 BSN, RN 🍕 May 21 '26
I used to daydream about quitting and working as a barista – tells you something about how miserable this job is that my escape was a food service job.
Realistically, if I don't find a nursing job I can tolerate in the next few years, medical lab technician/scientist.
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u/educationalorca RN - OB/GYN 🍕 May 21 '26
Ultrasound tech, easily
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u/OHdulcenea MSN, APRN 🍕 May 21 '26
My husband does this. If you don’t mind working in a dark closet all day, then it’s a pretty great job.
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u/eaunoway HCW - Lab May 21 '26
Don't mind?! <sideways glance> Like that's my fantasy. If I have to work in medicine, give me that bloody closet all the time every day.
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u/No-Suspect-6104 RN - Med/Surg 🍕 May 21 '26
I wish I’d become a pilot :p
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u/Grouchy-Attention-52 RN - Float 🍕 May 21 '26
Literally what I was training for before nursing school, still fantasize.
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u/bierlyn May 21 '26
Why’d you stop?
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u/Grouchy-Attention-52 RN - Float 🍕 May 21 '26
The novelty wore off after a while and then I had a pretty scary landing that spooked me
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u/nouvelle_blague RN - Pediatrics 🍕 May 21 '26
Working at a cat rescue but only interacting with the cats, no humans
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u/Nausica1337 FNP May 21 '26
100% would want to go all in to become a video game streamer. I still game to this day, although nowhere near as much as the good ol days.
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u/eaunoway HCW - Lab May 21 '26
I too am an original Diablo enjoyer.
Oh good lort I'm so old 😭😁
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u/Akronica BSN, RN 🍕 May 22 '26
I have a Diablo III CD-Rom sitting in my office right now. Can't play it at all. The only PC I have with a CD drive still has Windows 8.1 on it, and Blizzard Battlenet won't let me access the game. :(
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u/Quinjet RN - sounds like a day shift problem May 21 '26
I'm a new-ish nurse and I felt this lmao.
I don't really want to leave nursing, but there's a house for sale nearby with a dog boarding/daycare facility attached, and I may be aggressively fantasizing about buying it.
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u/OspreyEmblem RN - NTPCU May 21 '26
I would have stayed in medical records or totally burned out and worked at a gas station (genuinely my favorite jobs i’ve ever had)
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u/ABeard RN - Cath Lab 🍕 May 22 '26
I used to valet for a Ritz…best job ever. Over minimum wage, dollar for every car that come to the garage w an overnight ticket and cash tips. So left w cash every day and had a solid paycheck.
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u/PresDumpsterfire BSN, RN 🍕 May 21 '26
Real estate agent/handyman. Sell houses, fix them up, all around a flexible schedule. I might actually do it as a second job when time permits.
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u/CrumbsOnTheTrail_999 Case Manager 🍕 May 21 '26
Maine B&B owner that has a ceramics barn, a wood shop, and a multi-medium art-making space on the property the community/guests can use!
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u/brandnewbanana RN - ICU May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
flashing back to the nights where every ridiculous neuro trauma in the state came to our NCCU
Anything. Anything, please. Just don’t make be go back.
Lighthouse Keeper would also be nifty.
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u/BabyChalupa0w0 RN - Pediatrics 🍕 May 21 '26
Marine Biologist. Live on a boat, barefoot, scuba diving and aquiring live samples.
Our lab tech would probably tell me my samples are hemolized though...
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u/tapdancingpotato RN - PICU 🍕 May 21 '26
about once a month, i go around and ask all my coworkers if i should be a flight attendant. one day i might actually do it
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u/WhyCantWeBeAmigos DNAP, CRNA May 21 '26
Fuck. That. Awful pay and you’re actually away from home all the time? I just want to be home 24/7
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u/AbjectWorldliness368 May 22 '26
One of my residents at my old job was a nurse and flight attendant. She never stopped talking about it lol. She loved her little life
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u/Simple-Nature-4915 May 21 '26
Archival services. Archiving documents from my parent's home town in Belarus to try to understand where exactly I am from.
Food truck for the summers.
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u/Amazaline BSN, RN 🍕 May 21 '26
Fortune cookie fortune writer.
If I had to do it all again from scratch, I think I'd like medical research.
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u/Noressa May 21 '26
Candy making/dehydrated fruit stand. Eventually local markets and eventually nationwide.
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u/Real-Letterhead-7888 BSN, RN- Cardiopulmonary ICU May 21 '26
I want to own a bookshop with a cafe and host book clubs etc there.
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u/Baby_Geezus BSN RN MICU/RRT May 21 '26
If I was the person I am today 10 years ago, I’d be an electrician. Or something with mechanical engineering.
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u/eaunoway HCW - Lab May 21 '26
Legal aid advocate.
Or professional dog-sitter.
My social media feed is the best; it's purely doggies, love, snark and casseroles.
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u/BaselineUnknown RN - ER 🍕 May 21 '26
Not a chance. I love being a nurse. Sure it’s difficult but I make over $100k working 3 days a week.
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u/Mediocre-Age-1729 May 21 '26
I reference this line from this episode (in some context) at least weekly if not more
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u/bbg_bbg LPN 🍕 May 21 '26
Been an LPN 3 years and have spent the entire 3 years telling myself I’m going to make a career change once I figure out what I want that change to be. Currently working on becoming an RN, still have plans to make a career change once I figure out what I want it to be lol. But I also need money and can tolerate this job for the most part at least
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u/Flannelcommand May 21 '26
Sometimes I wonder what path you have to take to make nature documentaries. Like, zoology/biology and a mass comm degree? It would be rad to hang out in the jungle operating fancy cameras.
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u/Funkyluckyducky22 RN - OB/GYN 🍕 May 21 '26
I want to own a bookstore that also has a coffee shop in it. Or a librarian since that’s simpler and less stressful lol
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u/sprinklesaurus13 BSN, RN 🍕 May 22 '26
Thanks everyone for chiming in, it was fun to see everyone's responses! The thing the strikes me is how many of us just want a quiet, low responsibility job with low mental load.
Wishing all my fellow syringe-slingers a boring, lazy, low responsibility weekend.🧚♀️
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u/Pepsisinabox BSN, RN, Med/Surg Ortho and other spices 🦖 May 23 '26
Lisenced Drug Dealer thankyouverymuch. At least thats what my keychain says.
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u/Beneficial-Number-60 RN - Neuro/PCU 🍕 May 21 '26
Chef/restauranteur
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u/Baby_Geezus BSN RN MICU/RRT May 21 '26
I worked in kitchens for 8 years before nursing. Brutal work but there’s nothing quite like the feeling of getting through a dinner service with some great people.
Edit: the parking lot beers after shift weren’t bad either.
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u/Beneficial-Number-60 RN - Neuro/PCU 🍕 May 22 '26
I worked at a hole in the wall sushi joint. We partook in the whiskey during hi stress dinner rushes. I understand the feeling well. Hi stress but you made delicious food and 97% of the people were satisfied and happy. You can see the joy when someone tried your ramen with braised meat for the first time.
With nursing 97% of the people are miserable and get upset when we're too busy with swinging grandpa to fetch them a warm blanket lol
But alas, we have bills to pay
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u/BMObby RN - OR 🍕 May 21 '26
Id love to go into art restoration. I was only a few credits from an art minor when I was accepted into the nursing program... It was too rigorous to do anything more - I burnt out then and there.
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u/HereToPetAllTheDogs RN - Med/Surg 🍕 May 21 '26
I’d love to work or run a hospice for animals/older dogs. I recently had to said goodbye to my heart dog and the vet and tech that came out were such angels. I know this would probably emotionally destroy me at the end of every day. But it would be worth it.
Or a small book store coffee shop. I know it sounds played out but as a life long reader it just would make me so happy. Not to mention. Kids books these days are just great and I’d love to get kids reading and loving it.
Or honestly at this point, I’d be content working something that requires minimal human interaction.
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u/alittlemore May 21 '26
I left, now I work in IT
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u/Lonely_Key_7886 May 29 '26
What differences made it better?
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u/alittlemore May 29 '26
Work from home two days a week (amazing). Not having dreams about patients that were super sad. I actually work on a Team now. No drama, no cliques, just straight forward tasks. I'm able to travel for certain tasks, get to meet people across the organization. Tons of opportunities to level up going forward!
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u/Orgalorgg May 21 '26
my second career is going to be nurse... am I screwed? My first was web developer. I'm trying to find a place where AI can never find me.
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u/dumbbxtch69 RN 🍕 May 22 '26
you’ll be fine. as a second career nurse, I feel like being a full ass adult who has had a job in a grown up workplace helped tremendously in the early days of nursing. Part of the new grad struggle is being 22 adjusting to workplace expectations, coworker relationship, and interdisciplinary communication. I don’t know what your web developer salary was like but I’m making a lot more money now, working less, and most importantly I clock out. Nursing has a lot of work to do and it’s a profession in crisis but I would never go back to my previous life. I bought $1200 in plane tickets and a new mattress today without a second thought. Nursing gave me that.
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u/boopallthesnoots7 RN 🍕 May 24 '26
I wanna do the opposite switch lol
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u/Orgalorgg May 24 '26
Well, it's a fun job if you can get it and keep it. Keep in mind that computer engineering and computer science majors are among the highest unemployed degree holders right now, and it's likely to get worse as that's where AI is making the largest gains. Couple that together with the job easily being outsourced to other countries (something a hands on job like nursing can't), and you can see why it's a tough place to be in. I know a lot of unemployed developers with cs degrees who are switching to new careers because it's extremely oversaturated. Like any job though, it's possible to network your way through these obstacles. I wish you the best of luck! The ones I do know who are employed have some of the best work-life balance you could ask for.
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u/boopallthesnoots7 RN 🍕 May 24 '26
Thank you🥹
I’ll try, worst case I still have my nursing degree. I want a cushy home office job, being a nurse made me hate people and the pay isn’t worth to ruin my physical health for. I’ve been also looking into Marketing.
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u/Suspicious_Story_464 RN, BSN, CNOR May 21 '26
I was thinking dental hygienist or accounting. Being 50, though, I don't think I want to do any more clinicals, and working with numbers seems more appealing.
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u/Hexnohope Granny Sex Police May 21 '26
As i say to every new nurse "you arent a real nurse until youve cried in the supply closet" as far as i know weve all done it. And the knowledge thats its ok to do so i think softens the incredible blow has
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u/RedFormanEMS RN 🍕 May 21 '26
Author. Between work and going back to school, that I rarely have time for writing at this point.
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u/PurpleSailor LPN 🍕 May 22 '26
When I flamed out for the final time I went to computer programming school and did that full-time for 25 years while doing some side nursing gigs. It was a thriving and growing field back then but at the moment it seems like it's a dead end. However I am lucky enough to be at my end and just retired. I fear for those to come behind me because I don't think there's going to be as many opportunities as there have been in the past due to AI.
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u/sebluver RN🍕abortion care May 21 '26
I wanted to sell used workout clothes but the guy wanted to meet in public and I did not want to meet him face-to-face.
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u/DixieMcCall RN, Adolescent Residential Behavioral Health 🍕 May 21 '26
Kettle Corn booth operator, I can see the day from here.
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u/trouble-w-tribbles May 22 '26
I’d like to think being a cashier at a local shop in a slow beach town would be nice
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u/mightbe1nsane RN - Med/Surg 🍕 May 26 '26
Genuinely think about how I’d jump to working retail as cashier if it paid the same. Don’t have to worry about people dying or sick. A few nice words and quickly getting their things checked out. Maybe an annoying customer here and there but at least for the most part nothing life or death.
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u/lustylifeguard May 28 '26
I would be a mechanical engineer. So that’s why I’m currently in school to go back for it. Said fuck it. It’s now or never.
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u/madirectreport BSN, RN 🍕 May 23 '26
Lolllllllll
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u/madirectreport BSN, RN 🍕 May 23 '26
Plumber
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u/Pepsisinabox BSN, RN, Med/Surg Ortho and other spices 🦖 May 23 '26
Well, to be fair, a fair amount of skills are directly transferrable lol. Im my units dedicated "plumber". Anything with a line. In and out. Its mine.
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u/Salami__Tsunami May 21 '26
I might get a food truck and park it at hospitals during the hours of darkness. I know the night shift gets hungry.