Did you always want to be a nurse? I mean, when you were little, did you dream of becoming a nurse? Was this what you day dreamed about while you were in High School? Did you always know this was the profession that you wanted to get into? What about the medical field in general? Maybe it wasn't nursing, but something else in the medical field that sparked your interest initially.
Not AT ALL. Even in the beginning of college I did NOT want to be a nurse. My mom would suggest looking into it and I would hear nothing of it. But when I too A&P for predental, I fell in love with the entire human body and how it works (or doesn't work) and decided nursing was for me. Glad I chose it..most of the time!
Well, as for me as a kid yes, I 've always wanted to be a nurse. I would watch t.v shows with doctors and nurses and would absolutely love the little white dressess and especially the nurses hats and how professionally they looked. I also love the part where nurses get to give injections and make people feel better. But as I grow up and end of high school year approached I was kinda undecisive on what I wanted to do. So I took one of those career test to tell you what you should be doing. And my strongest area was in the arts. I wasn't so surprised cause I liked fashion and decorating, but in the back of my mind I didn't think it was a REAL career like doctors, lawyers, and so forth. So I opt for the nursing field. It has been a rocky road for me, education wise, but I'm a nuse today.
I'm still currently a student, but I figured I'd share my story anyways.
I am (close enough, three days) 19 years old, and my mother's been saying since I was little: "You should go into nursing." I was adamant that I WAS NOT GOING TO GO INTO NURSING. xD; About two and a half months ago, one of my friends had a baby. I was sitting in the car on the way home (and I was totally smitten with this adorable little boy), my mother commented that there is nursing with babies.
I apologize to all nurses out there, but I realize that TV goes a long way in convincing people of things. I had never thought of there being nurses for little kids - I suppose that's partially because the only relatives that have been in the hospital of mine are old.
I did a lot of research that night and decided I wanted to go into nursing. So I am. I'd like to work in the NICU or PICU eventually. I figure even if nursing isn't perfect for me, I can still keep my license and work at least part time. I'm working on my CNA right now!
NO. When I was younger I wanted so badly to be an astronaut or an astronomer. But since I am horrible at math I realized it wasnt realistic. I always loved medicine and animals, so then I wanted to be a veterinarian, but the years it took to do so and the money they get paid after 8 years of vet school wasn't worth it. Then I was stuck until I went to the ER one day. I saw a very young man and he had no hair or eyebrows. He looked really sick (I'm assuming he had cancer) and my heart just welled up with such compassion and empathy for the man. I wanted to do something to help him, anything.. even if it was just an offer of water. But there was nothing I could do for him and I felt powerless and decided after a few weeks that I just want to help people (instead of animals) who are sick and feel like I can make some sort of difference. That when all my years are finished and I'm on my deathbed, I can say my life had some purpose. God has been so good to me in my life and I just want to give my thanks by taking care of his people.
I am now a CNA and I love it. Going to nursing school soon with hopes of being an R.N.
When I was a little girl, I wanted to fly F-15 jets--I read Chuck Yeager's book, and he was my hero! My father flew private planes, so I started hanging around with him, begging him to get me flying lessons. He gave in, but right before I was to start them, one of dad's pilot friends said "aww how cute that little girl will be up there flying.." And I said to him, "I'm not gonna be cute, I'm gonna be fast, and strong and shoot down our enemies in dogfights.." And that old man laughed at me and said, "oh honey, girls aren't allowed to fly in combat. Your not gettin anywhere near a dogfight." I looked at my dad, who confirmed this with a nod..Oooohhh!! I was so mad..Never wanted to fly again after that day. Decided I wanted to be a nurse in high school. My mom was hospitalized, and her nurses were really great, and tough and smart. I wanted to be like they were. I like it fine, being a nurse. I'm always learning. (But I still think it'd be cool to jump in one of those jets and tear things up.. )
Nursing was never something I thought I'd get into. I wanted to be a veterinarian, writer, secretary, or computer programmer. I went to college for the latter, but didn't want to deal with the Calculus. I decided to become an RN for the widely talked about job security.
I do sometimes wish I'd have stuck with the programming, as it's something I really enjoyed. I enjoy nursing as well, but it's much more stressful.
No. I have not always wanted to be a nurse. When I was young, about 5, I wanted to be an OB doc er I told my mom I wanted to deliver babies. Then I went through a phase in junior high where I wanted to be a pediatrician. I graduated high school and went to college where I waffled around on a lot of majors. I rejected nursing by default because my mother had recently graduated with a BSN and she and I were not buddy buddies. I thought "I'd never want to be a nurse, I'm too smart for that." :lol2:LMAO. I was arrogant and immature. I ended up getting my degree in psychology. That major was the closest thing I had to being finished with my degree! Then I got married and had a family and became a stay-at-home mom and worked part time off and on to help out. I had grown up but my jobs SUCKED:down: Never found my niche. Hated pretty much all of the jobs I had held. It wasn't until my husband talked me into applying to nursing school (after being laid off from my contract office job) that I came back around to the idea of jumping into nursing. I had waffled about going to nursing school off and on for my first degree but once again I thought "I'll just be a doctor." That never happened because frankly it didn't sound appealing to be in school that long back-to-back. Anyway... I was accepted into the program by grace of God,:redbeathe and now I am a junior in a BSN program and I'm loving it; getting ready for clinicals this fall and a new job at the ICU!:yeah:I am so excited!
hey, I would liek to private message you, but my account won't allow that...so this shall do for now....I am not excited about starting work ina few weeks because like you, nursing was just a stable option for me. It's great pay, I have good benefits, and nursing will always be a needed profession. Soo...my question to you is, how did you feel being in this profession knowing you just do not enjoy it? For me, it is a struggle because I feel pressured to plaster a smile on my face and "I LOVE NURSING!!" when n reality, I do not. My interview for this job was complete bullcrap because again, it's just a job to me, it will pay the bills and that's about it. I had to act like I just absolutely love nursing.
Did you ever feel that way? Did you ever feel that pressure to pretend to love this career, even though...well, it's not the funnest job in the world. You can private message me if you like.
Any response would be appreciated! I feel like I can't openly talk about this (not the best idea to let people know you hate being a nurse...lol certainly won't get recommendations that way!) that's why I'm using an intenet forum. I feel kind of alone because of that...
Interesting topic! My aunt was a nurse and I found her nursing books interesting. I also had a couple surgeries by the time I was 7 and the nurses were always so nice to me. My mom thought nursing was an awesome profession because it paid so well compared to what she made so she always told me that it would make a great career. My aunt tried to talk me out of it. I have awful fashion sense and I liked the thought of uniforms and comfortable shoes. I also liked the thought of getting paid well and having a job when I graduated (this was in the early 90's when you could get a job easily). I was also interested in dance which my mom shot down so I decided to give up dancing since it wasn't going to go anywhere. I told my guidance counselor I loved to read and she said there were no careers like that (guess she'd never heard of an editor, journalist, publisher, English professor, etc) and that my career test showed I liked science. I told her I found it interesting but wasn't any good at it which was true. She said nursing would be a good fit so I went ahead and applied for nursing school. Nursing school was a struggle and I didn't like my clinicals at all. I'm convinced if I'd volunteered or worked as a CNA or even shadowed a nurse first I wouldn't have chose nursing at all. I was jealous of those people in college pursuing English degrees, library degrees, marine biology, zoology, etc. Some of these degrees I'd never even heard of but they sounded awesome! (This was before internet and the discovery channel!) The only clinical I loved was OB. So I decided I'd become an OB nurse. When I graduated I had to work med-surg for 6 months and was on a really mean-spirited, short-staffed floor. The only thing keeping me from quitting was knowing I could get into OB someday which I did six months later. I loved it but we usually had one labor nurse for the whole floor so it was extremely stressful. I left that to do school nursing. It wasn't as exciting but the hours were great and I'd just had a baby so I stuck with that for a few years. I then got assigned a really bad school with toxic staff and parents and grew to hate going to work every day. When my second baby was born I decided to just quit nursing because I was so burned out. Ten years later, I was ready to work again and decided I'd find something I love this time. I explored all kinds of careers and kept comparing them to nursing. I even tried substitute teaching to see if I'd like to be a teacher (no thanks!) Having a family I couldn't just move or do anything I wanted anymore. I hesitantly tried nursing again. I've substituted as a school nurse which is nice because you don't have to deal with the politics and everyone is just happy a nurse showed up because the school staff hates the responsibility of the nurse job! I'm also back in med-surg in a different hospital. It's much better this time around! I'm learning so much and I enjoy being back in the hospital. I'm going to work towards getting back to my first love OB again someday. My schedule is great. I work 12 hr days and no weekends. So I guess I'll put off being a dolphin trainer a little bit longer!
)
NeoNurseTX, RN
1,803 Posts
Not AT ALL. Even in the beginning of college I did NOT want to be a nurse. My mom would suggest looking into it and I would hear nothing of it. But when I too A&P for predental, I fell in love with the entire human body and how it works (or doesn't work) and decided nursing was for me. Glad I chose it..most of the time!