Our relationships with our jobs tend to be in permanent “it’s-complicated” status. On one hand, if we are lucky, we might truly love what we do. On the other hand, we often feel like our jobs don’t leave us enough time to spend with the people we love. If you work the day shift while your partner works the night shift, you probably feel like you never see each other. Furthermore, if you often work weekends and holidays, you most likely feel that you are missing out on even more precious couple time. However, this does not have to be the case. If you and your partner both decide to work as PRN nurses, you could take absolute control over your finances, schedules, and vacation time, which in turn will allow you to spend as much time together as you would like to, as well as help you both to reach your professional and personal goals.
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Spending More Time Together through PRN Work
Working PRN as a nurse means that you don’t have a permanent job but rather pick up shifts at different healthcare facilities on an as-needed basis. Therefore, if both your partner and you work PRN, you can decide on days that neither of you will work in order to take a trip or simply spend the day together at home. Furthermore, you could try to pick up shifts at the same facilities at the same time and even commute together! This isn’t likely to happen very often, but it would be fun to try to make it work and would turn the job search into a bit of a game. Even if you can’t be at the same facility at the same time, you could still attempt to pick up shifts on the same schedule so that you can enjoy your free time together—and avoid one of you making a smoothie while the other is trying to sleep.
Have the Freedom to Spend Time Alone
Now, let’s be honest: You can love your significant other more than anyone else in the world and still not want to be with them 24/7. Thankfully, the flexibility that PRN work offers also allows you to schedule free time for yourself when you know your partner will be working. This way you can visit your parents or your friends as much as you like without having to drag your partner along. Alternatively, you could choose to have a day all to yourself to journal, meditate, go on a hike, or binge-watch a show. How often do you allow yourself to do exactly what you want to do?
Support Each Other’s Professional Goals
You might both be nurses, but no two nurses are the same or have the same interests or professional goals. One of you might want to pursue higher studies and might need to clock in more hours in a particular setting, such as a hospital intensive care unit (ICU), whereas the other might have decided that nursing homes are the perfect work setting for them. As a couple, you can support each other to work in the settings you each enjoy the most without basing your decision on which jobs pay more. Furthermore, you might need to work fewer hours for a year or two in order to study; in this case, your partner can pick up some extra shifts to lift part of the financial burden from your shoulders. With complete flexibility to work where you want, when you want, and as much as you want, you can encourage each other to do work that you truly enjoy and support each other to reach your particular career goals.
On a lighter note, you can turn job searches into a couples’ game by taking turns browsing Nursa for shifts . When you are searching for jobs, you can look for shifts that you think would be perfect for your significant other; then, share the job posting with your partner and see if they decide to request the shift. It can be a fun way to see how well you know each other. If you’re both competitive, you could even keep score!
Raise Your Kids Together
If you would like to start a family, working as a PRN nurse is the perfect type of work. Nowadays, most couples feel that either both of them need to return to work almost immediately after the birth of a baby, or one of them has to stay home full time while the other works full time. Thankfully, this does not have to be the case. When your children are small, you can share the joys and frustrations of child care by working on alternating days. Moreover, even if one of you decides to stay home more time with the children, this stay-at-home parent can always pick up a shift whenever they feel the need to get out of the house and interact with other people. The same would be true for a parent who decides to continue working full time: Whenever they are really missing the kids and needing a break from work, that person can decide to take a few days off to bond with the little ones and let the other parent have a much-needed break from the kids as well—even if this means resting from parenting by going to work. Parenting is a lot like nursing: as gratifying as it is exhausting. This is why you will both appreciate being able to switch roles every once in a while. Plus, having a balance between work and home life can work wonders in your relationship with each other. Sharing both financial and family responsibilities can give you a shared sense of purpose as well as help you to feel more empathy, patience, and love for each other.
Move to Another State
Moving is almost always complicated for couples because job opportunities don’t usually appear at the same time for two people. One person might get the job offer of a lifetime in another state while the other worries about quitting their job and possibly not being able to find a similar position elsewhere. However, if you both work PRN, then you can both be completely flexible.
Maybe you have a dream school on the other side of the country that you would love to attend. Your partner might have always wanted to live near the beach. Perhaps neither of you has any specific destination in mind, but you both love to travel. Whichever the case may be, PRN work allows you to move to another state and continue working as a nurse without a hitch.
Your Work as a PRN Nurse Can Improve Your Relationship
Did you ever think your work as a PRN nurse could actually bring you and your partner together? Often, being a nurse means having some of the craziest schedules on the planet, but working nights doesn’t seem so bad if you get to stay in bed with your partner all morning and then wake up to a leisurely mid-afternoon brunch while the rest of the world is hard at work. Working through the holidays doesn’t seem so bad either when both of you are sipping on coconut water with the ocean breeze ruffling your hair a week later. With the freedom to work whenever and wherever you like, you can truly custom-design your lives both individually and as a couple.
