The purpose of this article is to elaborate on the significance that Allnurses.com has had for me over the past eight years. I'll accomplish this feat through capturing my random thoughts. Thank you for having the patience of saints, readers!
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Time seems to fly when you are busy doing other things. I registered as a member on Allnurses.com on February 20th, 2005. Wow! I have been a member of these forums for eight years! At that time, I was a 24-year-old who had reached one of life's crossroads. I was asking myself, "What in the heck am I going to do with the rest of my life? Are things going to work out for me?"
About six months prior to joining Allnurses.com, I took a risky plunge by resigning from my job at a paper products factory where I had been employed for three years. This job offered decent pay, full benefits, and a sense of security. I was leaving it all behind to chase a dream and turn it into a reality.
I quit to attend nursing school full-time.
When I registered to become a member approximately eight years ago, I was unemployed, residing in my home state of California, living off unemployment checks and my savings account, and had been attending a 12-month fast track vocational nursing (LVN) program located 95 miles away from my home. I was taking a calculated risk, because if I had been unable to secure a job as an LVN after earning my license, I could have lost everything for which I had worked so tirelessly.
I ended up relocating to Texas six weeks after graduation, and after passing NCLEX, felt so very blessed to have found a job in my new state of residence without any connections or networking. I was grateful that someone decided to take a chance on me. My first year in nursing (February 2006 to February 2007) was one of the roughest, but I toughened up and somehow made it through.
The move out of state has been good for me so far because I have thrived during my seven years of living in this place. I earned my RN license three years ago. I enjoy financial security, flexibility in scheduling, and a line of work that enables me to have sense of fulfillment that comes from helping others.
I first entertained the idea of becoming a nurse back in 2000 when I was 19 years old and a student in a medical assisting program. Due to the realities of the local job market in the region where I was living at the time, I never got the chance to work as a medical assistant. Instead, I briefly worked as a direct care staff member at a group home where six developmentally disabled adult clients resided.
My true inspiration for becoming a nurse came two years later. My mother was gravely ill with end stage hepatic disease in 2002 and would die without a liver transplantation. I was impressed and inspired by the professionalism, skill, and positive attitudes displayed by the team of doctors, nurses, techs, and others who provided the care. After several days in a hepatic coma, she received a liver transplant on May 31, 2002 and is alive 11 years after the fact.
Today is my birthday. A couple of years ago I was frightened by the prospect of crossing the other side of 30, but it is not too bad now that I'm there.
Thank you, Allnurses.com, for providing a source of support, knowledge, education, networking, and generosity along the way. Discovering these forums was one of the better decisions I have made in recent years.
