Help! Ready to quit nursing school

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Hello everyone. I need opinions and I have talked it through with my husband and my family, however I still don't feel like I have enough honest answers. I am ready to quit nursing school, I have another year and half left. I have good grades but that's because I have worked my but off. Unfortunately I think it's taking a toll on my own family. I am married and I have 2 children ages 7 and 4. My husband has a very dangerous job and he comes home exhausted everyday he sometimes works 7 days a week. I also work full-time. My family say that they will help me with the children so I can study and do what I need to do but I have been burned so many times frankly I just don't trust them and cannot depend on them. Nursing is my passion and I have tried so hard to make this work but it has now come to my breaking point. I have been depressed and have been crying constantly, I have been overworked at work and can't seem to catch up. I have been losing sleep due to the high stress and having my plate too full. It has come to a point that I am short tempered with everyone including my children. It pains me to continue being like that with them but I just keep on pushing myself. I want to make my dreams come true however not at the expense of my own family.

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Don't quit!! I'm in a similar situation.. I am a single mom with two kids..no of course I don't have a husband but I have little help with the kids.. I work full time as well and I too am stressed out a lot and have snapped on people including the kids.. I am working on getting a student loan to ease my work load at least some..my kids are age 11 and 9 so they understand what I'm doing and help with dishes and laundry.. Don't quit school.. I've felt that way too walking into class bags under my eyes but quitting is not an option.. God has brought me too far to leave me and I feel the same way about you.. Don't give up and live your dream!!!!

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Specializes in Neuroscience.

If your second semester is starting in the fall, will having your children in all-day school/preschool make life a little easier? Other than the problems you are having, do you enjoy the nursing aspect of school? If you answer yes to that, I would advise that this hard time you are going through is only two years long (Or a year and half left for you). Can you afford to sacrifice for that small amount of time in order to become a nurse, hopefully provide more for your family both financially and emotionally when you're finished with school? Can you afford to start paying back the student loans in six months (if you have any.) Weigh the pro's and con's, but consider how long school is and what the benefit will be when you are finished.

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Can you lighten your class load. I'm only taking two classes (3 lectures and 1 clinical 7-noon) this semester because time with kids trumps school ad study time right now. They are 6 and 4.

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Specializes in Oncology/hematology.

Only you can decide how much is too much. If you can't switch some things around, such as putting the kids in some kind of program (school, preschool, day care), can't take less classes, can't rely on family and don't see anything changing with your or your husband's work schedules, the only other option is to take out more loans and work less. It sucks that you have made it 1/4 of the way through and would have to quit now. I had one hell of a rough semester with family obligations myself, but am hoping things will be better for my last year. My son and husband finally get the fact that I'm not their go to guy during school. My father and stepmother are finally realizing that I can't be my father's "nurse" right now. My friends are going to give me a break for one more year and not be annoyed when I say no to every invitation. My expectations of my house are gone. I truly don't care anymore. I am not working right now because I was able to get a full scholarship, so I can just imagine how much more toll that is taking on you. I hope you stay in school, but totally understand if you decide it's too much right now. Good luck whatever you choose to do.

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Thank you everyone for your input and I am glad that many people understand the situation and have gone through it as well. Unfortunately I cannot cut hours at my job because they do not have the flexibility and I cannot quit due to I will not make as much money working anywhere else nor can I afford it. I do work a 9-5 job and children are already in school when I am working. Because of my husbands demanding job it impossible for him to help me with anything around the house. By the time I cook and we eat its time for all of us to go to bed, however I stay up to read and study.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

You say that your husband works at a dangerous job? What if, in a few years, he became profoundly injured or maimed to the point that he can no longer work?

If you stay in school, at least you will have a marketable skill that will enable you to support your family in the unfortunate event that your spouse is rendered unable to work.

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Specializes in Going to Peds!.
You say that your husband works at a dangerous job? What if, in a few years, he became profoundly injured or maimed to the point that he can no longer work?

If you stay in school, at least you will have a marketable skill that will enable you to support your family in the unfortunate event that your spouse is rendered unable to work.

From someone in these very shoes right now, this. So very much. We were both working (making about equal incomes) until January this year when my dh had a series of issues including acute kidney injury with acute renal failure, severe rhabdomyolysis, mild cva. 3 weeks inpatient including dialysis, months of pt and he's still out on disability.

We're living on my income and a disability benefit through his employer. (We're not to the point of applying for SSDI. Yet.) We were forced off his insurance when his FMLA ran out. We pay THREE times as much for worse coverage now.

If I was not an RN, I would have no real marketable skill. I'd be working for probably $10-11/hr. And we'd be filing bankruptcy.

Sent from my HTC One X using allnurses.com

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Specializes in Going to Peds!.

Another thing. Buy life insurance on your dh BEFORE he's uninsurable. We only had employer offered insurance. And now with his medical hx, we can't afford any policy that an insurer would write.

Sent from my HTC One X using allnurses.com

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@lslater82 I say keep at it. I am 35 will start working next week from 8-5 I have a 10yr. old, a 4 yr old, and a 15 yr. old. I think it is planning. You only have 1 year and a half left and it would not only be something to make you happy but it will also help provide for your family, I mean better provide for your family, and maybe allow your husband the means to find a less dangerous job once you are finished. If I were in your shoes I would take one weekend and do all my washing for the week. I would iron everyone's cloths and have them, if able to, hang up and put up their clothes. I would purchase the hang up thing with the seven slots and fill them for each day, I mean from socks to bows. I would also plan meals for the week and pre-prepare what I could so that if you go to school at nights, you can have food in crock pots, so that your husband only has to fix plates. Now as far as the kids upsetting you because you are on edge, there is a fix for that too. Seems as if you work full time, go to school full time, try to study as well as try to take care of home, husband and kids. When you get off do you have to go straight to school? I would study on my lunch breaks and right after lecture. Stop by a starbucks and try to relax. If you prefer to be home and study, make sure you have something planned for the kids to watch, read, or do while you study for at least an hour when you get home. It's kind of hard to say specifically what would help without knowing your routine. This is your dream and it was put on your heart for a reason, not to start and quit. That year and 1half will fly by. I say try to figure it out, and by that I mean a way for you to do it without being to depend on someone else. Quitting is the easy way out, but I believe you would live to regret it later on. Don't give up.:yes:

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Please don't quit. All of these posts are very wise. Do whatever you need to do to stay in your program. Stay strong!

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Sending you positive thoughts, whatever you decide :)

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