Is "downtime" a delusion?

[nicoleb12]

I am a mom of three young children and I am finally going back to school for my BSN. I knew this endeavor would be difficult, but I feel like I am handling the stress of school very well. Its actually my life at home that is the hardest! I feel like all week I am so excited from Friday and the weekend....as if I have some sort of amnesia and forget how the weekend is actually more of a grind than the week! Getting studying and homework done, staying ahead the best I can, making sure the littles and hubby don't get too restless, shopping, laundry, sports, the rare date-night or even movie on tv.....

Do I just need to suck it up? I've also heard that my first year of nursing will put school to shame (stress-wise, how much I will learn, etc.)

For those of you that made it through the tunnel and *now see the light* (hehe), will things be any less crazy once I am actually out of school and working? Or will I miss the days of being a student and wonder what I was complaining about?

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I don't know anyone at any phase of life, high schooler through retirement, that talks about having so much free time. (younger than high school they don't seem to care) It all gets filled up with different things depending on your phase of life. My kids were 1,3 and 5 when I started classes and then nursing school. Life at that phase was filled with care activities at home, and keeping three kids alive and fed- sometimes entertained. Ten years later I'm juggling two jobs and they can feed, dress and entertain themselves for the most part, and now they have activities all nights of the week that require chauffeur service and involvement on a different level. I've constantly been in school for those 10 years going through ADN, MSN and now NP programs. You do what you have to do, because otherwise you have to settle for where you are now. So, you'll get through it, and I can't promise you'll find more time anywhere along the way, but that's life. Good luck!

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I think most of the craziness you're describing is from your family life and not nursing school. Once you're working as a nurse, your kids will still have studying, homework, sports, there will still be laundry and dishes, etc. You will presumably have to work weekends once you are employed as a nurse so you may have some days off during the week while the kids are in school that will grant you a little bit of down time.

I don't have kids. I spent all day yesterday in my pajamas and plan to do the same tomorrow since my area is expecting a foot + of snow and I rearranged my patients so that I could work from home all day. So basically, it's all relative.