“D
id I Leave the water Running?” — A problem cited with some frequency in the Travel Nurse Reports surveys is that some Travel Nurses begin to suspect, typically by the midpoint of their assignment, that there was something they should have done back home before leaving, but didn’t. This sense of something left undone can spring up at the least-likely moment, and can become a nagging distraction. It may be illogical, in and of itself, and yet, there it us, a repeating bother. The worst outcome is when one gives in to this worry, flies home in the middle of a duty tour, and finds that nothing whatsoever is amiss.
If you have experienced something along these lines, or if you haven’t but want to be protected against the rise of such a worry, there are some steps you can take:
- create a check-list;
- find a friend who would be willing to check up on your home; and
- develop the ability to analyze troubling emotional eruptions.
Creating a check-list is fairly easy, but for it to be effective, additional strategies must be adopted. The check-list itself should begin with one’s utilities, and it depends on the degree to which one is going to shut down one’s home when going on assignment. In most cases this will not be complete, and a common plan is to leave the electricity and telephone turned on for the thirteen-week absence. The reconnect fee for these is usually high enough to make disconnecting them unwise.
That doesn’t mean everything should be left plugged into an outlet. Power surges happen, so it’s wise to unplug your electronics, and your coffee pot. If your phone is connected to an answering machine, delete the unneeded old message before you leave to make sure there’s enough room for the new ones. Another option is call-forwarding; you may want to receive your calls in real time.
Food presents a challenge. Before leaving, look through your refrigerator and pantry, and discard anything likely to go bad while you’re away.
Heat is an important matter. What temperature do your plants require? To enter your home after a triumphant Travel Nurse assignment only to find your favorite flowers wilting in their pots can be devastating. If you have plants, they will require watering, so you’ll have to develop a system in which a friend, neighbor, or landlord will supply this service on the required schedule and let you know, by e-mail or phone, after each time. So turn down your heat, by all means, but don’t turn it down too far.
What about appointments? Remember, these can be informal as well as rigorously scheduled; some people may simply expect to meet up with you at the coffee shop or library for a quick chat—and this can be more important, for both of you, than it might seem. We live in, and derive satisfaction from, a network that is more complex and extended than one might think. So begin using a calendar or scheduling book for your official appointments. And spend five minutes thinking about who might depend on your mere presence for their well-being, and then make a point to find these people before you leave and tell them how long you will be gone.
What about your mail? If you use a Post Office box, you might need a larger one. The same is true if your mail is delivered to a mailbox on your home—but a better approach is to have a friend or trusted neighbor bring in your mail; don’t let mail visibly accumulate. To avoid having someone get an inkling into your private life or business, you might want to have your mail forwarded to your assignment—until a few days before you leave. When you fill out the change of address form in your home town, specify the termination date. And, just in case, fill out a second, reverse form to give to the Post Office in your destination city when you leave.
What if someone shows up at your home, hoping to see you? A little weather-proof card posted near your door with a simple message should suffice: “I’m not here at the moment. If you need to speak to me right now, please call the following number.” The number should be local, such as that of a friend; the friend can take the caller’s phone number, call you, and then you can contact the caller as you see fit.
What about burglars? There are three modes of prevention. First, tell trusted neighbors the time you’ll be away so they will know how to regard any activity they happen to notice. Second, give this information to the local precinct; they might keep their eyes open, and if something does happen while you’re gone, having passed this on to the police could facilitate your insurance claim. Third, acquire timed light controls for your living room and bedroom—and leave on a light that will not show in the daytime but provide a discernable glow after dark.
What about something you had agreed to do? This is tricky, because sometimes a Travel Nurse might accept an assignment just to get out of keeping a promise, and not want to admit it. In one TravelNurseReports survey a respondent admitted she had gone to a hospital in Houston to avoid going out with her friend’s cousin, whom she had heard certain things about which she did not want to tell her friend. All you can do in this situation is reexamine what you may have said in the hope of uncovering a ducked commitment. Be honest with yourself; it’s always the best course.
Once you’ve developed a regular system for taking care of these matters, it should not take much time. But worries may still occur, no matter how irrational. This is when you have to polish your tools for self-analysis. If you begin to worry that something has been left undone, you may be right, so the first step is to run through your check-list, making sure everything has been properly done. If the worry persists, chances are there is a camouflaged cause. In the cauldron of our unconscious minds, displacement is a common occurrence; if you are worrying about something for which there is no sufficient reason, some other matter has probably adopted a temporary disguise. Instead of worrying about what you might have said to someone, near or far, or something you might have done, or not done, the true subject of your concern has become detached, and the motion is being carried by a substitute issue.
What you have to do in this situation is run through a different check-list of matters that are important to you, looking for one that triggers a rush of anxiety. Are you really concerned about a spouse or lover? Are there health issues you don’t want to face? Or—and this is one of the most common—are you beginning to feel that taking this assignment was a mistake, one difficult to remedy because of the terms of your contract? It may very well be that the true problem has taken on a disguise because of the difficulty of finding a solution. You may not always find one, but facing the real problem is better than tilting at the windmill of a false worry. Besides, very little is found if you do not look.
