There are some careers that people do solely for the money – they just want to make as much as possible, and it hardly matters what kind of job they do in order to make that money. For others, money is not something that they care about, or at least not as much as they do about their job, and they would rather have a career that is rewarding in other ways. Nursing is one of these rewarding careers.

To be a nurse, you need to be a special kind of person. You need to want to help people and do whatever it takes to make them feel better. You also need to understand technical terms and medical information. In other words, you need to have a brain that can switch from the pastoral aspect of nursing to the medical aspect quickly and seamlessly. This is not something that everyone can do.

If you feel that nursing might be exactly the career for you, here are some reasons why it is such a rewarding one.

Improve People’s Lives

No one wants to be in hospital (unless, of course, they work there), but sometimes it cannot be helped. If someone is sick or injured, the hospital is the best place for them. It can be a frightening place, however, and they might feel alone or scared, and they might be in pain. Nurses can help them get through these feelings and begin to feel better.

Nurses will help to improve people’s lives simply by being there. They can sit and talk, hold someone’s hand, administer pain relief, inform family members of anything they need to know about, and generally make a bad situation much easier. Without nurses, hospitals would be a lot more frightening than they already are.

Career For Life

If you train to be a nurse, you will effectively have a career for life. This is unusual in this day and age when people are switching their jobs all the time, trying new things in an effort to discover what it is that suits them best.

If nursing is for you, you don’t have to change careers or look for anything new. You can instead concentrate on your career and move up the career ladder if and when you want to. You won’t have to worry about redundancies or anyone taking your place. If you have a nursing job, you can stay in it until the day you retire if that is what suits you best. This is a wonderful thing to know, and having this kind of job security is certainly a good reward for the hard work you are putting in on a daily basis.

Career Progression

Nursing isn’t about joining at a specific level and then staying there, it is a career for life, and you can progress, but if you do want to stick at a level you’re happy with, that’s no problem, you certainly can. However, there are many chances at career progression in nursing, which is one of the many reasons people who join this area find it so rewarding.

The key to this career progression is to continue to learn. It is possible to do this while you are still working, even if you are working long shifts because you can learn online. This even extends to taking a nursing masters or other additional qualifications. Once you have the knowledge and the qualifications you need, you can then progress your career in any direction you want to.

You might choose to apply for a promotion in the field you are already working in, for example, or perhaps move across to another discipline, choosing to specialize rather than generalize in the workplace. The choice is yours if you have the evidence to back up your learning, knowledge, and experience.

Work With Different People

When you are a nurse, one of the most rewarding aspects is that you get to work alongside lots of different people. These people might be just like you, or they could be completely different, and that is part of the excitement of this particular aspect of the job.

So many people from a variety of walks of life choose to be nurses because it really is such a rewarding job. Therefore, you are sure to meet interesting people who vary in age, ethnicity, experience, personality, country of birth, and more. Think how much you can learn from these people, and what extra knowledge you can pick up.

This won’t just affect and improve your nursing work and working life, but it will have a positive impact on your home life too. Learning about how other people live and what they think will give you much more insight into everything.

You Will Be Supported

In some careers, you can feel extremely alone, even if you work with lots of other people. You might not feel entirely supported in the role you have taken on, and could be overwhelmed with the tasks and are being asked of you.

That will never be the case when you are a nurse. There will always be people around you who are utterly supportive of you. They know that nursing is not an easy career to take on, and they know that colleagues will need support every now and then.

The reality of nursing is that although it is one of the most rewarding careers available, there will be days that are harder than others, particularly when dealing with very sick patients and, of course, death. This is where the supportive nature of the people you are working with comes in so important. Without this, you could burn out and become extremely distressed, or you might go the other way and become immune to everything around you.

Neither of these options is a good one to find yourself taking. Working with people who understand your thoughts and feelings, and who will be there for you when you need them is why nursing is such a great choice of career.

The Work-Life Balance

When you are a nurse, you will work long hours, and you may need to work at night or the weekends. However, you will also receive plenty of time off to make up for what are known as unsociable hours. This is ideal for having a great work-life balance.

The work-life balance is something that we should all bear in mind a lot more. Life shouldn’t be all about work (even if you are doing a job as important as nursing), especially if you have a family to care for as well. No one wants to work so much that they miss their children growing up, or don’t get to enjoy time with their partner as much as they would like.

So although the work is hard, the flexibility that it can offer does make up for it and allows you to enjoy your home life as much as your work life. This is not something that every career can offer, which is yet another reason why nursing is such a rewarding thing to do.

You Can Travel

At first glance, you may not consider nursing to be a career that offers much scope for travel, but this is not necessarily the case. Although it may not be as ‘glamorous’ as other careers that offer travel, you will still potentially be able to see other areas of the country and even the world. It will depend on which field of nursing you choose to work, and also what you are doing within that field, but there is certainly a chance to travel if you look for it.

You could travel with a team of medical experts to take part in emergency missions across the world, for example. Alternatively, you might choose to make the travel arrangements yourself, moving to a different city every few years to experience what it has to offer. The wonderful thing about nursing is that there will be always be a job for you, no matter where you decide to go. As long as you have the qualifications, experience, and ideally good references, you should be able to find work, allowing you to experience the country and see things you would have missed out on in a different career.

Nursing Offers Challenges

It’s true that some people are more than happy with a steady, nine to five job behind a desk, doing the same thing all day every day. For some, that is ideal. This is not the case for everyone, though, and if you prefer to have variety in your life and to be given challenges on a daily basis, nursing is where you should think of applying.

Being challenged is exciting, and will give you the chance to learn new skills, or to put your existing skills into practice. You will need to think on your feet and go with your experience and instinct in some cases, and although this can be daunting, over time, it will become one of the very best parts of the job.