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6 Things I Have Learned From Going to Therapy

6 Things I Have Learned From Going to Therapy

A Leap Of Faith

A Leap Of Faith

A Season of Change

A Season of Change

A Leap Of Faith

February 18, 2020      mirandaehrich

Travel nursing has always been an interest of mine, even as a young nursing student. The pull towards adventure, traveling, and meeting new people inspired me to pursue this career change. When I graduated from nursing school and was working as a med-surg nurse, I began following travelers and was in awe of their lifestyles. I knew it was something I wanted to do someday. I didn’t want to be a med-surg nurse forever, so I followed my dream into the pediatric world and landed in the NICU. The NICU challenges me, inspires me, breaks my heart, pushes me to be my best and it is a place I will always cherish. I am grateful that my journey has led me to these tiny, resilient humans. 

After I started working in the NICU and realized I would stay here for awhile, I began thinking more about travel nursing. A lot of serious thought and self reflection went into deciding to travel and it took me months to finally commit to it. There was not one reason that went into why I wanted to travel nurse, but here are the big reasons:

  • I was unhappy. I felt stuck, sad, bitter and angry most of the time. It wasn’t because of my job or a person in my life. It was just an overall feeling of unhappiness/emptiness that had been building over the years and it wasn’t something that anyone could fix other than myself. I lived in fear of my multiple sclerosis and it was consuming my life. I feared not being able to travel and see the world when I am older due to my disease, so I felt travel nursing now, while I am young and able, was the best choice. This is to prove to myself that my disease cannot rule my life and that I can and will do things on my own. This is me taking control of my own happiness.
  • I am in crippling debt. I want to settle down, buy a house, and start a family someday and it would be nearly impossible with the debt I have acquired over the years (thank you college). Travel nurses make much more than staff nurses due to the hospitals being desperate for help. Make more money = pay off debt faster. 
  • I can no longer fill my own cup. This journey so far has involved a tremendous amount of self reflection and growth. I have gone back to therapy and have been working on getting to the root of my unhappiness and building a foundation of strength that will help me keep moving forward. I am working on controlling my negative thoughts and learning how to live a more happy, fulfilled life. 
  • My nephew was born. If I could spend every single day with that little one, I would. I never knew my heart could love someone so much until he was born. Travel nursing gives me so many more opportunities to be closer to him and to see him more than I would be able to if I were still in St. Louis.
  • Travel nursing has always been a goal of mine. The freedom of traveling to a new place every 3 months, meeting new people, and advancing my skills and knowledge of NICU nursing was an absolute must in my eyes. I knew I would regret not doing this down the road so I took a leap of faith.

I applied with Aya Healthcare because another nurse, who worked for them, said nothing but wonderful things about the company. I had heard that a recruiter can make or break your experience so I wanted to be sure that I was in good hands to start my journey. I applied to the agency in June with the intent of starting to travel in late October/early November. When I spoke with my recruiter she asked why I wanted to be a travel nurse and what were my goals. After this initial conversation, I didn’t hear back from her until September when we started to apply for jobs.

That leads me to the process. Travel nursing works through agency contracts. Each agency has contacts with cooperating hospitals across the country and has access to job postings at the hospitals that are in need of travel nurses. My recruiter will send me the pay packages and hospital information (what level NICU it is, how many beds the unit is, etc.) and I let her know if I’m interested in applying to that hospital or not. At that point, I wait to see if I get a phone call from the manager of the unit for an interview, which is hopefully followed by an extended offer. So yes, I am interviewing for a new job every 3 months. Most contracts are 13 weeks long but can be longer depending if you take any time off during those weeks or not. My contract here in Winston-Salem ended up being 15 weeks. 

I’ve received a lot of questions on pay packages and how they work. Most travel nurses average around $20/hr in pay and a lot of their money comes from stipends. I get a weekly meal and housing stipend that makes up the bulk of what I make. The amount of your stipend package depends on the area and the cost of living there. Some states are notorious for paying very low regardless of cost of living (Florida I am talking about you). Some nurses choose to get company housing which entails your agency to find housing near your hospital and paying for it in full during your time there, but then you lose out on the housing stipend. A lot of nurses choose to take the housing stipend because more affordable housing can be found outside of the agency’s findings. This works out to a travelers benefit because we are able to pocket that extra money that was saved on the cheaper accommodations. My pay package also includes my insurance plan that I find very adequate.

After I accepted the job for Winston-Salem, NC, I had a lot of paperwork to submit. I was required to get bloodwork, drug tested, provide references, and get all of my certifications together. All while still working full-time and packing up my belongings in preparation. Kyle is planning on selling the house soon, so I had to work on packing ALL of my stuff and trying to get it moved out of the house before I left. Talk about a stressful few weeks. 

I spent about 10 days in Florida before venturing up to North Carolina. Those first few weeks here were EXTREMELY hard. I am not going to lie, I cried a lot. I have never lived on my own before and I have never lived away from my family and friends. It was quite an adjustment. I plan on doing another post about my time here in North Carolina and what I have learned since being on my own. With my contract coming to an end, I am excited to see where I go next but am also sad to be leaving all the friends I have made here. I will say, travel nursing has so many perks and can be so much fun, but also comes with loneliness and a different type of stress that no one seems to want to talk about. I am so glad I decided to push myself out of my comfort zone and do something that completely terrified me. It has been nice to just focus on me and my happiness for once.

As always, thank you for continuing to follow my journey and for supporting me through this crazy thing we call life. Stay golden my friends and until next time!

XOXO

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Miranda Ehrich

Miranda Ehrich

"For what it's worth: It's never too late to be whoever you want to be.

I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

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I’m proud of this girl right here. Proud that sh I’m proud of this girl right here. Proud that she can spend hours crying, then get up and do what she needs to do. Proud that even on the days she is in unbearable pain, she still does a workout. Proud that she defied all odds and is still defying them. Proud of her for always staying true to herself. I’m just so proud of how far she’s come. 

I hope one day soon I can share a little bit more of the recent weeks, but for now I am just grateful to be where I am. The good moments make the hard days easier to manage and process. Don’t forget to show yourself some love on your bad days ❤️
To the hardest year of my life: You taught me mo To the hardest year of my life: 

You taught me more about myself and life in a year than most people will learn in an entire lifetime. I had to rebuild myself from nothing. Learning how to walk again, coming back from a traumatic brain injury, learning how to cope with PTSD, dealing with the hardships of being out of a job for a year, the list goes on and on. 

But I did it. I survived the worst year of my life. I will never be grateful for getting hit by a car but I am grateful for the lessons that have been learned and for the growth that has come from it. I am a stronger, more resilient force and everyday I continue to heal. 

Most of this past year has been pain, depression, anxiety and more pain. But I look back at my camera roll and I see so many smiles, laughter, and amazing moments with amazing people. The people that have supported me this past year are the reason I am still here. Through my darkest moments I had difficultly finding my reason to hold on, but because of my support system and the love I received I held on. 

I made new friends, continued to grow current friendships, saw great EDM shows, went to festivals, spent so much time with family, visited friends across the country, went to multiple weddings, spent time in nature, and witnessed my second nephew be born. 

This year was hard and painful, but this year also gave me so so much. This year gave me a reason to live. This year showed me I am worthy of love, happiness and success. 

2023 watch out, I’m coming for you. 💕
Job secured ✔️ Apartment picked ✔️ In a sh Job secured ✔️ Apartment picked ✔️ In a short 3 weeks I’ll be back living in Orlando full time again. Bring on the adventures 💕
This year was the first Thanksgiving I had experie This year was the first Thanksgiving I had experienced with my family in over 5 years. Between work, having COVID, and being in the hospital, I haven’t been able to sit down at a table with a full plate with family, so this year was very special for me. Also special because I am still here to experience it. 

As a new beginning is coming, a tremendous amount of reflection has been happening about what this past year has looked like for me. As many know when I was discharged from the hospital, I had to go live with my sister and her family as I needed a full time caregiver. I couldn’t be left alone at the house because I needed help doing everything. She had to change my bandages, help me go to the bathroom, empty my commode, help transfer me, and had to remind me everyday to do my exercises. All while running a business, raising a toddler and being pregnant. She’s basically super woman. 

She didn’t leave my side in the hospital, advocated for me when she felt I wasn’t getting the best care, and somehow kept it together in front of me when I didn’t recognize her when I woke up. 

Everyone knows my sister is my best friend and that she’s my person. We aren’t the mushy lovey type, we get through life with coffee, wine, sarcasm and dark humor. We have always had this unspoken respect, love and compassion for one another that we don’t need to verbalize and we both know we would take a bullet for each other. 

She hasn’t gotten enough recognition for what she has done for me this past year and there will never be anything I can do to repay her. I absolutely would not have survived this past year without her support. Being close to my nephews, being able to be there for Lincoln’s birth and watch him grow up has been one of the greatest things this past year. Happiness has been hard to find at times but those 2 nuggets can always put a smile on my face. 

Anyways this is an Andrea appreciation post and I hope everyone has an Andrea in their life for when you hit rock bottom. 💕
One year ago as of yesterday, I was leaving EDC an One year ago as of yesterday, I was leaving EDC and my life changed forever. I woke up a week later in the hospital being told by a person I thought was a complete stranger, that I was crossing the street when a car going close to 50mph hit me. It took me a minute to register but the person telling me this was my sister. Over the next couple of days, I slowly started grasping the severity of my injuries and as they slowly decreased my fentanyl and morphine, the more my mind cleared up and the reality of my situation set in. Along with an unimaginable amount of pain. 

After 6 surgeries, breaking nearly 20 bones and being in a wheelchair for 4 months, I came back to EDC again this year. My PTSD is still there, my pain is still there but I am also still here. I survived death. I beat all odds and I am walking, talking and alive. I danced, I laughed, I cried and I celebrated that the worst year of my life is now behind me. 

For my other trauma survivors: hold tight, healing is not linear. You’ll have good days, okay days and terrible days. Sometimes those terrible days last for what seems like forever but the more you continue to fight for yourself, for your life, the more the okay days are more often than the terrible days. And before you know it the okay days start becoming the good days. This is your sign to prioritize your healing and create the life you want. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported and loved me this past year. I know I wasn’t always the best to be around, but I could not have gotten through this alone. I can’t wait to see what this next year brings me. 💕
We work on the glutes so we can have charcutes. 😋
Convinced my life is always a Taylor Swift song. Convinced my life is always a Taylor Swift song. 

I have spent so so much time picking up the broken pieces from this past year and a new chapter is finally beginning. 💕
Surgery #6 done ✔️ Everything went well. Doc Surgery #6 done ✔️

Everything went well. Doc said my bone growth was pretty significant and they had to take a lot out. It went all the way from my ulna to my radius. I’m pretty sore this morning and doing my exercises is not fun 🥴 but we are managing. Starting OT today and have to get some braces made that I can sleep in. 

I ended up getting a lot of hardware taken out. All 3 limbs were operated on but hopefully this will help me with the daily pain I am in. Arm plate/screws came out (which I’ve had in for 10 years now, might miss it a bit 🤪), screw in knee, 2 screws in left ankle, and my long screw in my right ankle (far right) all came out. I’m less robot now. 

Definitely aspirated when I was being extubated so been coughing up a lot of stuff over night but it’s getting better this morning. 

I have a lot of hard work in front of me and the next 6 weeks will be very vital in my long term recovery. My arm is still stiff and doesn’t want to rotate like it should so a lot of cranking on it and hourly exercises will have to be done. Pretty similar to what I went through when my leg didn’t want to work. 

Anyways hopefully this will be my last surgery and I will be able to get back to “normal” in the next 2-3 months! Thank you all for the kind words, for thinking about me and for those who have texted me it means the world. 

My year of hell is almost over. 🙌🏻
“I’m coming to terms with a broken heart, I gu “I’m coming to terms with a broken heart, I guess that sometimes good things fall apart.”

3rd time seeing @illenium in the past year and my love for him grows more and more with every show. Thanks for another amazing night Nick. 💕
Tell me you love me 🎶 Tell me you love me 🎶

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