Welcome back to Humanity is a Beautiful Thing. As you may or may not have picked up, I work full time and generally also pick up extra shifts and all of us know too well the pressures of winter, it has been busy and stressful, so we are back a couple of weeks later than what I had expected. Part of developing this podcast was to shed light on the true realities of being an ICU nurse so I try to practice what I preach about well-being and self-care and and I have needed my recent days off to re-set, recharge and do things for myself. I should forewarn this episode may be triggering and bring up a lot of feelings and emotions, I know I felt that during this interview so please be mindful of yourselves and take breaks if you need to, but I think it is so important to have these conversations and to bring awareness of the effects of the job, what we may be experiencing and that you are not alone in how you may be feeling. The first episode of 2024 I am joined by Sophie. Sophie is an intensive care nurse that took a career break due to the pressures of ICU during and post COVID. In what would have 4 years since we started to first hear about COVID and a few months before the first patients entered our ICUs, we discuss COVID, and the long term impacts it had and continues to have on the healthcare system and nurses. This is a very raw and honest conversation about why Sophie left ICU, we discuss the idea around what we feel ‘we should’ be doing as nurses instead of what we may want to do, the reality of burnout, the aftermath of COVID and that it is brave to say you may need to step away but how sometimes that makes you feel like a failure. There is also a strong theme on questions and thoughts on trauma, PTSD, and therapy. Sophie and I discuss themes around trauma and PTSD and discuss research we have read but by no means are we experts or giving advice and if this episode was triggering, you feel like you need more support or if you have more questions on these themes then please seek out advice from a medical professional. I am in awe and so appreciative of Sophie’s honesty and openness about her experiences with nursing and COVID because without people being brave like Sophie sometimes these topics are not discussed, although this conversation bought up so many emotions it felt so very important to have this conversation and the shining light through it all, as we talk about is nurses comradery, friendships and bonds and that our bravery, resilience and the ability to lean on one another is what makes us so special and so special to one another.