How do you get to-and-from your job? If you’re like me, you may drive yourself to work each day. Back-and-forth. Up and down. North and south.

I was telling my husband’s sister the other day, as we drove down the Pike- “I take this way to get to work and then when I come home from work I stay on 83 North.”

It’s interesting when you drive one way for an extended period of time. But what I find even more fascinating is what happens when you go the opposite way.

So the Wegmans that is closest to us is about 25 minutes away. And there are multiple ways you can get there. I typically go one route on my way there and a different one on my way home. Well, today I decided to switch it up. Head there on the route that usually takes me home and vice versa.

Well, I have got to tell you this was quite an interesting trip to the grocery store!

On the way there I was seeing things from the car that I had never seen before. The side of a house was painted a different color and stood out in beauty, which I would never have seen if I did not change it up. The flower gardens that were in my view were new and breathtaking. It was wonderful to take the exact same roads I always travel and just approach them in the opposite direction. (And yes, on the way home I even almost got lost as I stood at one of the street corners arguing with myself if this was a left or right turn).

I tell you this story today because as I was driving I began to reflect on my nursing career.

Do I approach things in a very ‘one-way’ view? Are there areas in which I can open up and try things in an opposite direction? What about my relationships with my colleagues, supervisors and those I take care for? Am I missing out approaching things the way ‘they’ve always been done’?

I encourage you to reflect on your nursing career and practice.

Are you in a mindset that is very one way? Do you do the same thing day in and day out? What would it look like if you reversed things up a bit, switched your approach?

It can be very fun, quite eye-opening and a wonderfully diverse experience to try things from another direction.

Thank you for reading and if you are open to it, I invite you to leave a comment, question or reflection below. Enjoy your health today.