The Thrill of Whitewater: A Nurse’s Journey
Meet a friend of mine, Nick. Nick is a badass to say the least. He seamlessly balances a career in nursing with his passion for whitewater adventure, whether that be to kayak a new class 5 creek, class 5 whitewater and managing his nursing shifts.
Caption: Nick racing in New River Rodeo. Photo taken by Leann Alice, 2024.
Q: Hi Nick, Thank you for giving me some time and some words of wisdom. Can you tell us a bit about yourself, and how you got into both professions (nursing & whitewater)?
“For whitewater, my mom was fighting cancer. At the time, I was in high school. Well, I got into a bunch of trouble, and it was a month before I turned 18 so it was like I either have to straighten up and this goes away, or they were going to trial me as an adult.
Anyway, I was making Mom’s life miserable. I had this teacher that I was just venting to one day, and he said, “Man, just sounds like you need to get out of town”. And I said, “I really do”.
But he had told me to try raft guiding. It was free, and the training was some time away anyway, even if you didn’t like it, it gets you out of town anyway. I would’ve said yes to anything.
But man, seeing me doing something positive, I noticed a 180 in my mom’s health. At the time I didn’t like it [river guiding], all the people in puffy jackets and people from Ohio chugging Red Bulls, no hate to Ohio people. But I stuck with it.
Then, by the time she was better, I was super into it. Despite all the Ohio goobers and the Red Bulls.
Mom always says the river saved her life. I believe it. It saved mine too.“
“…With nursing, I always wanted to be a nurse. I had been guiding for 10 years or so, and I remember just windows down, nothing but jeans on, just beer in a cup holder. I had just gotten off of an Upper Gauley trip, had a good tip and I was like Man, it is never going to get better than this when it comes to raft guiding.
So, I only have down here from here. And I kept thinking about nursing. It would be nice to do something different. And I swear, I turned on the radio, which I normally don’t do. I am the type of person that listens to the same CD over and over. But I turned on the radio, and it was an ad for the nursing school that is right by my house. The LPN school. And I wrote down the number, in my post-Gauley state, wrote it down, and called it, and became a nurse. And I absolutely love it.
The connection with human beings that you experience on the river and in nursing is just amazing and it’s the same thing. Except I get to be outdoors in one, inside in the other, I get to wear sandals, and in the other, I get to wear comfy-ass New Balance shoes. One I wear pajamas, and the other outdoor gear. It’s awesome.
They’re total opposites, but they’re the same in so many ways.”
Q: What does a typical week look like for you?
“It’s so flexible – there have been seasons where I work nursing mid-week, and then New River one weekend, and then the next weekend I work the Yough, with my nursing shifts inbetween.
There’s been seasons where the water level has been so good that I didn’t work my nursing job or my rafting job because I was just out kayaking and playing.
And that is the beauty of it – I have no kids, no pets, no debt, no responsibilities. My life is just whatever I want it to be, and I have put a lot of work into making it like that. I love it.
But yeah, in the wintertime I can work four 15 hour shifts and I get 20 hours of overtime a week, and just stack that up. And then when it rains, I don’t work! I go out and boat.”
Q: How do you manage the physical and mental demands of both jobs?
“You got to sleep, dude. You have to sleep. Especially with the nursing gig. It’s not just about being at your job, regardless of which job it is, you must be present. You have to have the mental energy to realize – ya know with my patient, this might be the hardest thing that they have ever gone through, the worst day of their life, my needs are not what’s important then. So, if I’m tired, I have to suck it up.
And then the river too, I love it so much. And the best part is sharing that passion in a way, and hopefully, they’ll take on to whitewater. It might be the only time they get to experience the river and nature. But I want to be present, to connect with them in the deepest and rawest way possible. I want to give them the real shit! Give them a glimpse of my passions. So yes, you got to get your sleep.
And you have to be in shape – if you can’t climb in a boat on your own or flip it upright… I mean the standard for raft guiding now is pretty low, but I was trained differently. People talk a lot about safety on the river, if you don’t take physical fitness seriously, then you don’t take safety seriously. I do not care what you say, you can have 3 throw bags and 40 carabiners, you don’t care about your fellow guides or your guests if you don’t care about your fitness.”
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges you face in balancing these roles?
“I love nursing – I would not be a nurse if I didn’t have to make money in this world, you know?
I can live off raft guiding, but not in a comfortable way. It is tough because I just want to raft guide, I love raft guiding – but for half the year unless you travel internationally for it you can’t do it. I like kayaking here in the wintertime too much go to some other goon class 3 river. Should be like oh there’s a monkey, there’s a bird. You know that I’m not cut out for the scenic style; I need something rowdy.
The difficulty of balance is like I have to nurse. I must invest in that. Invest in that skill and that you know make that money in order to be on the river as much as I want to be. I mean there have been years where I’ve had over 300 days on the water. I wouldn’t never been able to do that without nursing.
The other balance is it can get wild sometimes, that river life. Go out and have a little rage until like 3 in the morning, a little whoody-who and howdy-hey. Yeah, you can’t let that get a hold of you because you have to be sharp when you’re doing the nursing thing believe me.
I’ve given the wrong people the wrong medication before. It happens. Making errors as a human being is a real thing, we all do it. But there’s been times when I didn’t balance it well.
You know the next day after, you’re hungover and still a little starry-eyed… You don’t want your nurse in that state. I had some moments when I worked at a nursing home where I was in that state, but I was so comfortable working that job. Then I would have some crazy nights when I wasn’t in the best mental state, I just don’t show up like that. It all goes back to that being present thing.
You have to be ready for it. Give them the best trip that you can.“
Q: Do you have any advice for others who might be looking to balance two seperate types of careers?
“I can’t recommend nursing enough. There’s never not going to not be a need for healthcare.
Everybody who works in the restaurant industry realized during COVID or in a retail store the necessity and need for that type of stuff – like business will always fluctuates. You need to find an occupation that’s never going to go away and that to me is nursing.
It’s insanely flexible. I’ve went and filled out job applications and they’re just like when can you start. They haven’t asked me about the year that I didn’t work, which was during COVID. But back then, it was like man’s world ending – all I did was kayak, but they didn’t care. You need to find some kind of balance in a way that it does not get in the way of what you love doing.
I feel like nursing and raft guide just complement each other because so much of it is about being able to easily establish human connection and I feel pretty good at that. I can connect with a very wide range of people very easily. It’s very easy for me to keep him an upbeat state of mind and put that energy out there to someone else in a way that lifts them up even when the worst things happen. I mean I’ve had to declare people dead before it’s done and it’s just you know their family sitting there upset – you need to show respect and do things that you intuitively know you need to do.
You have to find balance – you can’t be wanting people who just do fun all the time. You’re going to be broke and you don’t have health insurance and you can’t be one people that just work, doing serious either cause we weren’t put on this Earth to work, we were put here to connect with others, but you need to find what brings you joy.”
take – aways
- Follow Your Passion
- Balance is Crucial
- Adapatability & Flexibility
- Complementary Skills
- Long Term Goals
- Imporantance of Physical Fitness
- Resilence & Adaptation
So readers, take what you can from this piece. I hope it gives you the spark that I had in figuring out how to manage both lives, or that you simply can do what you are wanting to achieve.
Rapid & Reflections 
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