Anyone else overwhelmed??

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I keep finding myself feeling this growing amount of realization that I am actually starting nursing school for my AAS/BSN fast-track degree in as little as 6 weeks (wow! Exciting)- but just as exciting as it is, it is also extremely overwhelming. I have been on this site for a few months now, and reading a majority of these posts has helped... And also freaked me out at the same time. Is nursing school really as hard and relentless as a lot of posters claim it is?? Is it possible to have a life, relationships, sanity... 'Me' time? Or is all of that truly gone for 2 years? I'm really excited to start, but going into the unknown is stressful for anyone most of the time.

I would like to hear any advice, warnings or just tough love (in a nice approach, please lol) about how to mentally prepare for this journey I am embarking down shortly.

In our age, I find that a lot of people can really exaggerate a situation. But maybe it is as monotonous and life consuming as I'm reading... If so, then it is what it is and I'll conquer that beast as it comes, but hey, at least I'll really know a little more than I do now!

Any feedback would be great!

Thank you! :)

Krystal C. 💉💕

First off I want to say congratulations on getting in! Now to answer some of your questions...

Honestly, yes. Nursing school is very demanding. It's overwhelming and will definitely keep you busy. As far as not having a life, it's all about time management. If you have good time management skills and can balance work and school, you may be able to fit in some "you time". If you have a significant other or children, it may be a bit more difficult. I've learned to make "me time" regardless because at times you will become emotionally drained and need a break from everything.

Your first semester will be your hardest (it was for me). It's kind of like learning a new language. There will be a few times you might fail a test or won't do as well as you anticipated because it'll be completely different from what you're use to. That's normal. For most people there's a trial and error stage where you have to figure out what studying methods are best for you, etc. You also have to keep in mind that the study method you use for one class may not work for others. It may take a few weeks but once you get the hang of it you should do fine. Good luck!

Yes I am overwhelmed as well! I start in 5 weeks, and Im getting so nervous. Its definitely the unknown that gets too me, because all I hear is nursing school is unlike any other schooling you've done, say goodbye to your life for two-four years, it will make or break you, etc. So...Im prepared for the worst, but I really hope its not THAT bad...and praying its not worse than I can imagine.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

Congratulations on the new journey you're about to embark on! It is intense, and it is time consuming, but it is doable. Some days will be completely overwhelming, some will not. A lot is about time management, and choosing what is really important to you. And also remembering that it is a brief time in your life, so that some of this sacrifice is only a small part of your life....and it will be worth it.

I am just on the other side of nursing school, having finished in March, NCLEX in April and hoping to hear on a residency soon. Here's what worked for me. The biggest thing was prioritizing what was important. I have 4 kids, and to me it was important to me that I be at all their sporting events and take them to practices. So my "me" time became driving to their events or enjoying watching them play their games. I knew it was only 2 years so I took less for myself. But i also found ways to enjoy tye moment, or relax quickly. Music isna huge lifesaver. Also finding what time of day works best for studying for you and sticking to it. Easy meals and advanced meal prep were also a life saver. Find someone to study with and bounce ideas off of. As a busy Mom, my best friend in school was also the same so we'd often text eachother to keep ourselves accountable and help eachother out.

Good Luck on your new journey, you will be amazed at how much you learn.

Specializes in PCT, RN.

I feel like a lot of people over exaggerate the difficulty of maintaining a social life along with school or not having time for family or going to the gym, etc. I've said it before and I'll say it again: with good time management, it's possible to maintain a social life, go to the gym, get homework and studying done, etc. Just make sure your time management is up to par with what you're going into and you'll be fine.

Specializes in ICU.

It depends on the person and your time management skills. I have people in my cohort do nothing but study and they are close every semester to failing out. It's just hard for some people to grasp the material. There is a lot of work involved, but if you can organize yourself from the get go, you should be able to have a life. If I did not have a life outside of nursing school, I would go crazy and burn out fast.

I am a single mom. My son is 9. He is involved in tons of extra-curricular activities. I have joint custody with my ex. I do not work. I do have a boyfriend and he lives over an hour away from me. I have done fine with balancing everything and enjoying the occasional girls night out. I do have a home to take care of, food to cook, laundry to do, errands to run. The bills need to be paid and someone needs to buy the food. So, I keep myself very organized. I have yet to miss a game or competition, I have not missed a school play or awards presentation. I've made time to visit my family in another state, visit my boyfriend's family, those kind of obligations. You find a way to make it work.

I have several day planners in my backpack. In one I write down every test date for the semester. When homework is due and projects. Basically, all of the work for my lecture classes. Another one is used for clinical. What days I have clinical and where. Some clinical days are at the sim lab at my school. When my care plans and other paperwork is due. We always have loads of paperwork with clinical.

I make calenders up a month in advance for the people taking care of my son. What days they have school pick up and drop off duty, what days to take him to which practice and when I pick him up from where. My ex actually gets 3 or 4 copies of this calender. He tends to lose them and claim he forgot what his job was.

I have 3 dry erase boards in my house. Especially so my son can see what is what. One is by my front door and I write down all of the activities for the week and who will be with him where. This prepares him for the week and lets him know who to expect when. It is also the last thing I look at before leaving so I have it in my head also. I have a dry erase chore chart. I need my kiddos help in cleaning the house. I had learn my house won't be perfect all of the time. I've gotten used to a little dirt. My third board is where I schedule myself to study and get projects done. I pull the info from my day planners and I work it out. I try to do as much as possible when I am not with my son so I can spend more time with him when he is here.

My boyfriend understands my schooling and supports me 100%. He knows during school that comes first and that it's just for a short period of time in our lives. But, my books are away by 9pm on days we are together. We don't live together and with him being an hour away we aren't together every day. Plus, we are only 6 months into our relationship. We are still getting to know each other. But after 9pm, it's our time. Even on nights I drive to his house I may take my books but they are away at 9. I have also gotten through these first two semesters without having to do a lot of work on the weekends either. I have not had a Monday class yet though. I'm usually off on Mondays. I did have a couple of days of clinical on Mondays. That was usually a big work day. This semester I will have a Monday afternoon class so we will see. But I have spent a lot of fun time with him and girlfriends on the weekends. Now some weekends it was unavoidable. I may have had 3 lecture tests in the upcoming week. So in that case, I would study on the weekends. But in general I did not. If I had a difficult week coming up, my boyfriend would come up and play with my son on nights I had him to distract him and let me get some studying in. He has been my rock.

I spend as much time as I can with my son. But he is 9 and so he can understand a little what I am doing. He truly supports me becoming a nurse. Even during the crazy times though, I make sure we spend at least 15 minutes talking. I ask about his day and what is going on in his life. We call it talk time and we do not miss a day. Since I have been off this summer, I've been making sure we go and do fun stuff together. We can go to the waterpark or bowling and he has had lots of sleepovers with friends. It's been a good summer aside from the rain we get almost every day. When I am in school, Sunday has become the day I run my errands and get my house clean.

It is possible. But it takes a lot of planning. Good luck and enjoy it.

Thank you so much everyone. This definitely does ease my mind a bit. I am fortunate enough that I already work for a hospital and they only require me to work 16 hours a week while completing my program. I think that's a big relief because I know a lot of students that had to work 24 hours a week to keep their benefits and jobs, and of course there's those who had to work full time, etc. Time management will be crucial, I think the hardest part will be learning how I study best and what time frames work for me.

You are all right - It is a temporary situation, thank goodness! I think my biggest fear is failing. I have been working at this for so long, now it's here and I'm so worried I am going to mess it up somehow!

I am already hoping and praying that my cohort is full of determined, intelligent students that are great people and we can establish a relationship and a study schedule to help each other get through it.

Krystal C. 💉💕

Yes I am overwhelmed as well! I start in 5 weeks, and Im getting so nervous. Its definitely the unknown that gets too me, because all I hear is nursing school is unlike any other schooling you've done, say goodbye to your life for two-four years, it will make or break you, etc. So...Im prepared for the worst, but I really hope its not THAT bad...and praying its not worse than I can imagine.

I feel the same way! Where are you starting at? Hang in there, I have a feeling the vast majority of new students are feeling how we are! :)

Krystal C. 💉💕

It depends on the person and your time management skills. I have people in my cohort do nothing but study and they are close every semester to failing out. It's just hard for some people to grasp the material. There is a lot of work involved, but if you can organize yourself from the get go, you should be able to have a life. If I did not have a life outside of nursing school, I would go crazy and burn out fast.

I am a single mom. My son is 9. He is involved in tons of extra-curricular activities. I have joint custody with my ex. I do not work. I do have a boyfriend and he lives over an hour away from me. I have done fine with balancing everything and enjoying the occasional girls night out. I do have a home to take care of, food to cook, laundry to do, errands to run. The bills need to be paid and someone needs to buy the food. So, I keep myself very organized. I have yet to miss a game or competition, I have not missed a school play or awards presentation. I've made time to visit my family in another state, visit my boyfriend's family, those kind of obligations. You find a way to make it work.

I have several day planners in my backpack. In one I write down every test date for the semester. When homework is due and projects. Basically, all of the work for my lecture classes. Another one is used for clinical. What days I have clinical and where. Some clinical days are at the sim lab at my school. When my care plans and other paperwork is due. We always have loads of paperwork with clinical.

I make calenders up a month in advance for the people taking care of my son. What days they have school pick up and drop off duty, what days to take him to which practice and when I pick him up from where. My ex actually gets 3 or 4 copies of this calender. He tends to lose them and claim he forgot what his job was.

I have 3 dry erase boards in my house. Especially so my son can see what is what. One is by my front door and I write down all of the activities for the week and who will be with him where. This prepares him for the week and lets him know who to expect when. It is also the last thing I look at before leaving so I have it in my head also. I have a dry erase chore chart. I need my kiddos help in cleaning the house. I had learn my house won't be perfect all of the time. I've gotten used to a little dirt. My third board is where I schedule myself to study and get projects done. I pull the info from my day planners and I work it out. I try to do as much as possible when I am not with my son so I can spend more time with him when he is here.

My boyfriend understands my schooling and supports me 100%. He knows during school that comes first and that it's just for a short period of time in our lives. But, my books are away by 9pm on days we are together. We don't live together and with him being an hour away we aren't together every day. Plus, we are only 6 months into our relationship. We are still getting to know each other. But after 9pm, it's our time. Even on nights I drive to his house I may take my books but they are away at 9. I have also gotten through these first two semesters without having to do a lot of work on the weekends either. I have not had a Monday class yet though. I'm usually off on Mondays. I did have a couple of days of clinical on Mondays. That was usually a big work day. This semester I will have a Monday afternoon class so we will see. But I have spent a lot of fun time with him and girlfriends on the weekends. Now some weekends it was unavoidable. I may have had 3 lecture tests in the upcoming week. So in that case, I would study on the weekends. But in general I did not. If I had a difficult week coming up, my boyfriend would come up and play with my son on nights I had him to distract him and let me get some studying in. He has been my rock.

I spend as much time as I can with my son. But he is 9 and so he can understand a little what I am doing. He truly supports me becoming a nurse. Even during the crazy times though, I make sure we spend at least 15 minutes talking. I ask about his day and what is going on in his life. We call it talk time and we do not miss a day. Since I have been off this summer, I've been making sure we go and do fun stuff together. We can go to the waterpark or bowling and he has had lots of sleepovers with friends. It's been a good summer aside from the rain we get almost every day. When I am in school, Sunday has become the day I run my errands and get my house clean.

It is possible. But it takes a lot of planning. Good luck and enjoy it.

Everything you said here really helped me a lot. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out for me and give me your advice and how you have things. I currently use life planners, but I only have one for everything I do, but I'll consider getting two! I also loved your idea about the white boards, I think I should do that as well. I am going to completely rearrange my room (my parents were kind enough to let me move back in with them at almost 28 - my birthday is in 2 days) rent free so I didn't have to struggle through nursing school. I'll be able to pay all my bills but have zero rent and barely any costs for groceries. Huge blessing. Anyways, I am going to rearrange it and organize it to give it more of a 'sanctuary' feel, place a desk in there and put up some book shelves and good lighting. A white board is a wonderful idea to keep track of my weekly schedule for not just myself but them as well.

How long are clinicals for? Are they 12 hours? It sounds like you have really established a great routine for yourself. I am praying and hoping I can be as savvy as you are when it comes to this and figure out how to balance and maintain, while succeeding.

I really appreciate your feedback and your tips. It was very helpful to read! I hope others find this thread and read it as well.

:)

Krystal C. 💉💕

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