At a crossroads - desperately need advice!

[3rdgenRN2B]

Help me! I’m 41, have 2 young kids, and am looking at a career change. For as long as i can remember, I’ve wanted to be either a nurse or a teacher. However, for the past 14 years my kids and hubby have been on my insurance (hubby was self employed) and doing either was simply not an option due to having to either be out of work or severely cut down my hours too much to keep our health insurance (due to student teaching or clinical hours). So I’ve spent the past 23 years working for the same employer (a flower shop) and just going through the motions - i kind of gave up on pursuing either of my dream careers.
Now, hubby has a new job with great benefits and I can pursue my own dream job. Sounds great right? You’d think I’d be jumping up and down and running towards one. Nope! I’m paralyzed with indecision. I started taking teaching courses online through Liberty U which is a bit of a struggle but works around the kids schedules. And i can be done relatively quick. But i come from a long line of nurses and it’s still on my mind. But I’m already 41 and between prereqs and clinicals I will be at least 45 by the time I’m done. And what if i don’t make it? Then what? Plus online classes are so isolating... but again, very convenient.

Im turning to this wonderful helpful community for some clarity. I know - what a problem to have! But it’s driving me nuts not being able to pick a path when they both appeal to me...

thank you all so much in advance.

[Golden_RN, MSN]

I think you should go talk to a nursing counselor at a jr college/university near you and see what you're signing up for. Find out how impacted the programs near you are, and how likely you would be to get accepted to a program.

Since you mentioned Liberty U, I will say that I always advise nursing majors to attend public universities/community colleges.

I wouldn't NOT do it because of your age. If you finished by mid-forties, you'd still have 2 decades of working years left.

Being a teacher would have a great schedule for raising kids. Nursing is not always the case.

[3rdgenRN2B]

Thanks for the insight. Just writing down my question and putting it out there seemed to help. I dropped my teaching classes and registered for chemistry at my local CC. No the schedule wouldn't be as great as that of a teacher, but considering I work retail now it wouldn't be all that bad! Plus by the time I'm working my kiddos will be a bit older. Thanks again! Excited to move forward!