I understand that we all make hundreds of decisions everyday and I am not trying to say that each one was predetermined by some supernatural force etc. What I want to know is looking at your life and the many directions it may have gone do you feel that your current situation is such that something larger "may" have played a role in where you are now?

I think it's possible, at least with the whole nursing thing. I tried so very hard to avoid being in this profession...and here I am!

Hi,

You know, I also think it's possible--maybe more then possible--probable.

It's so funny, hypnotic_nurse, that you replied the way you did...

When I was in high school, it was time to make a decision on what to do with my life. This was the early 60's & there wasn't so much available. I knew I DID NOT want to a nurse. My sister from the age of 5 wanted to be a nurse as did my cousisn. well to make a long story short, we all three ended up nurses. It's now almost 40 yrs. later.--Out of the three of us, I am the only one still working, and also the other two, barely worked 5 yrs. apiece!!

I always feel that it must have been fate!! Even tho I never wanted to be a nurse--I love it. I love every part of it. There are things I would change, but the basics--I love!!

Mary Ann

That's a tough one, but yeah, I definately think its possible. There have been some very serendipitous happenings in my life that at the time I felt had to have been fated. What about you, CCU NRS?

I always feel that it must have been fate!! Even tho I never wanted to be a nurse--I love it. I love every part of it. There are things I would change, but the basics--I love!!

Mary Ann

Mary Ann, you and I have a LOT in common! My sister is a nurse, my mom is a nurse, two aunts were nurses. My best friend went to school to be a nurse and I got a teaching degree -- now she's teaching and I'm a nurse! And I do love it!

Jodie

Fate? I did not know what I wanted to do. I was young, and the college counselor threw that suggestion in. I felt pressured to just PICK SOMETHING, so I said OK..sign me up. Had no idea what it was all about. So sometimes fate can be equivalent to "$hit just happens, ya wake up and there ya are". Have I ever had a profound moment where I said to myself, "Ahhhhh....fate has taken me where I was SUPPOSED to be"....Um, No. Just chose an unknown path, and am now i'm a nurse. Some folks may get the profound Ahhhh, but i am sure it waxes and wanes. Some days being a nurse is great, other days you want to quit and run for your life.

I'm a CNA, and it was TOTALLY fate. My grandma was an RN for 50+ years, and always said I should be a nurse, but I didn't want to. I was a college freshman going for elementary ed, which I didn't want to do either. Then my parents moved 1800 miles away, and no longer having their financial support, had to get a job. My friend is the administrator's assistant at a local nursing home, and he got me a job as a CNA student, and I figured I'd do that until something better came along. A year and a half later, I'm well into my prerequisites for nursing, and I LOVE my job, horrible pay and all. My parents said they've never seen me happier. Many of the nurses I work are constantly bugging me to stay in school and get good grades, because as one put it, I'm "going to make a hell of a nurse." I hope so!

That's a tough one, but yeah, I definately think its possible. There have been some very serendipitous happenings in my life that at the time I felt had to have been fated. What about you, CCU NRS?

Well the reason I brought this subject up was because of another thread.

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83150

I'm no Angel. In that thread the issue of a calling was raised. I admited there that I do feel nursing was a calling. The more I think about it I guess I could just call it Fate, I could call it destiny, I could call it a popsicle LOL, but the thing is I do feel this is where and what I am meant to do. So getting away from "A Calling" per'se I wanted to see if others might just be thinking of it in different terms?

So yes Fate, Destiny, Calling, I feel that in the bigger picture I was in some sense guided to do what I do.

Well the reason I brought this subject up was because of another thread.

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83150

I'm no Angel. In that thread the issue of a calling was raised. I admited there that I do feel nursing was a calling. The more I think about it I guess I could just call it Fate, I could call it destiny, I could call it a popsicle LOL, but the thing is I do feel this is where and what I am meant to do. So getting away from "A Calling" per'se I wanted to see if others might just be thinking of it in different terms?

So yes Fate, Destiny, Calling, I feel that in the bigger picture I was in some sense guided to do what I do.

Sometimes things are random, like in my case...while other times it may be due to an interest being sparked by what we experience or come into contact with in life.

Well the reason I brought this subject up was because of another thread.

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83150

I'm no Angel. In that thread the issue of a calling was raised. I admited there that I do feel nursing was a calling. The more I think about it I guess I could just call it Fate, I could call it destiny, I could call it a popsicle LOL, but the thing is I do feel this is where and what I am meant to do. So getting away from "A Calling" per'se I wanted to see if others might just be thinking of it in different terms?

So yes Fate, Destiny, Calling, I feel that in the bigger picture I was in some sense guided to do what I do.

Ah, yes. I like that thread. I can see where I may have be fated to perhaps be in nursing. Lord knows it was not something I grew up wanting to do. LOL. But my objection to it being spoken of as a "calling" is that word (to me) means I had some religious revelation that I must be another Florence Nightengale and minister to the sick. And not worry about working conditions, pay, or how I am treated. But in truth, I was working as a telephone operator in a hospital and liked the fact that nurses didn't have to work 9-5, Mon.-Fri., they got decent pay, had excellent job security, could travel, and it seemed like "right livelihood." I looked into it and was offered a scholarship by the Kiwanis club. Well, not having any money and being offered a scholarship made my mind up. This from someone who refused to visit my sister in the hospital because the smells made me violently ill. :rotfl:

So fate, yes. A calling, definately not. But I am a dang good nurse.

I did not become a nurse until I was 45 yrs old, it took me a long time to get here, but it is something that has always been inherent in my soul. As a little girl, I would pretend my dogs were sick, cover them up, nurture them, etc. Unable to go to school when kids were growing up, I did other things that looking back were perfect at the time, but once they graduated, it was my turn! I love nursing.

Strangely things fell into place nicely when I started school. I actually got fired from a job where I was working 50 plus hours a week right before nursing school. It was a blessing in disguise because I could concentrate on school. I never would have made it through nursing school had I kept that job I got fired from, it would have only gotten in the way and I would have dropped nursing. Coincidence? Fate? Divine Internvention?

Fate? I don't know about that....it seems to imply we are powerless in our lives. I don't buy that at all. I believe I am living my destiny and according to God's plan for me. Long story, but it is by His grace I am here today. I have had some close calls physically----and apparently he does not want me, yet. My work here is not done, I think.

So, I am doing what my heart tells me to, listening less to others' opinions and much more believing in myself. If that is "fate" then it's certainly in God's hands, and he is placing it, in turn, into my own. In other words, I am making my OWN way, thank you!