Change can be difficult for some individuals, quite difficult. Other individuals find it difficult NOT to change, stagnantly staying still is almost impossible for these folks. But I’m not here to talk to you about them, nope, I’m here to share with you the most amazing story of “My Transformation .“

 

When our children were young, my husband and I worked opposite shifts to save money on child care. My husband worked the day shift and I worked the overnight shift (NOC shift). Years of working NOCs conditioned me to be the ultimate Night Owl. I was able to get good sleep during the day, no matter what time of year it was or what activities may have been happening outside. Hell, I was even able to sleep through a small tornado once. I could also stay awake all night with any worries of dozing off unexpectedly. Tweaking my sleep schedule was relatively easy and I could usually adjust with no issues. Which meant I could still attend all our children's school functions and clubs/sports obligations and games. 15 years I worked NOCs and somewhere in those 15 years my body decided that change, for me, would be difficult. 

 

In March 2023, I was let go from my position of 7 years as a med tech in an assisted living facility. I was absolutely heartbroken. I loved my job, I loved my co-workers, but most of all I loved my residents. My husband, on the other hand, was more than happy that I was no longer the Full-time NOC Shift Employee ANYWHERE! He was actually more than “more than happy”, he was ecstatic, overjoyed, elated! He said to me, “All I've ever wanted since your very first job working NOCs was for you not to work NOCs because I did not get to hold you in my arms every night as we slept.” What woman wouldn't love to hear her husband divulge to her that he wants to cuddle her every night while they slept? A divorced woman and that is about it. 

 

I took a little time off for myself but when I did decide to begin looking for a new job I first took a long hard look at my husband. Here was a man, my man who had sacrificed so much for me and my happiness. A man who had raised a boy into a man that was not biologically his son. A man who moved 1500 miles from anyone or anything of familiarity to get out of the city and raise our children in a tiny town in the backwoods of Minnesota. A man that doted up on me and spoiled me rotten, especially since both the children had grown up and moved out of the house. I decided that this man deserved his wife by his side every night when he laid his head to rest. 

 

Piece of cake, right? Easy peasy? I'm here to inform you that it was easy. It was easy to apply for a job working day shift. It was also easy blowing the interview outta the water for that job. Piece of cake landing the position at the hospital in Med-Surg Inpatient 4 days a week from 7am-3:30pm with full benefits paid by the employer. And making $10 more an hour than my job of 7 years! The complete and utter 180° change in lifestyle was not as easy and effortless as I had hoped. 

 

My metamorphosis from Night Owl Extraordinaire to a Morning Butterfly Badass was rough to say the least. I went from getting off of work at 5:30am to waking up at 5:30am. I have had to enforce a strict bedtime which I am never able to fall asleep by, if I'm even able to fall asleep. I found it easier to stay up all night and go to work without any sleep the majority of the time. If I was able to get to sleep within 4 hours of that obnoxious, despicable alarm, I was a hell bitch that spit molten hot lava on everyone and everything that came within a 20 foot radius of me and for no apparent reason. For simply being conscious. 

 

It has been almost a year since I began my “My Transformation" and each day it gets easier and easier. And as I look back on the last couple of years it gives me a whole new appreciation of my husband, as well as a sense of pride in my accomplishments and a new respect for the challenges that still lie ahead. And I will traverse these obstacles with confidence and grace. Why? Because I love my husband more than I love myself. I want to be a better me for him.