Free at last!

Today was the last day of my Nurse Residency program! Nurse residency is the one-year orientation program new nurses go through to get up to speed and get support in learning the trade. Well, that's what it's supposed to mean anyway. Overcoming this one year mark, intact, means one thing: I'm free!!!
I've worked all kinds of jobs in my life, from waiting tables and tending bar, to retail sales, to accounting, to research science and databasing, to hand hygiene observations, and a lot of other fun stuff in between. But none of those jobs has been nearly as crazy as the one I have now as a nurse. Quite possibly none of them have been nearly as rewarding and fulfilling, either, but definitely not as crazy. In any given work day, I'm a medication pusher, nagger, waitress, therapist, physical therapist, social worker, nutritionist, diagnostician, housekeeper, secretary and confidante. That's being a nurse. It's quite a job. Made that much more intense by the environment in which I work, which is chaotic on a good day, terrifyingly awful and abusive on a bad day.
I've been really torn about how I want to shape my career once I hit this point, and frankly I still am. But today marked the point where I get to really make that choice, instead of just dreaming about it. Freedom means I can go do anything I could possibly want to do, like Labor & Delivery or Pediatrics. But it also means I could stay right where I am and enjoy the relationships I've fought long and hard to build and the respect I've developed, because I want to and not because I have to. It's amazingly freeing to know the choice is in my hands now! For all the days I'm stuck in the boss' office being reminded of all my flaws, over and over again, it's good to know I can tolerate it as a learning experience, or get the heck out of Dodge. Funny how even the worst of situations can be tolerable when I know it's for me and not for anyone else.
So I have some thinking to do in the next few weeks. So many choices! Wish me luck!! And feel free to weigh in if you have any sage words of wisdom...