Do you remember...

Originally posted by Luv2banurse2004

What you had to overcome to become a nurse? I'm not sure if this is revisiting an old thread, but I was inspired to ask because so many in my class have such different circumstances.

I know one nurse who went back and got her g.e.d. and then put herself through a BSN program with four very young children and she was a single mom. She said she just had to do it because the jobs she held before nursing would not give her nor her children any quality of life.

Let me know your experiences.

great thread-remembering what we overcame to get where we are today might make us appreciate it all the more.....I was just out of an abusive marriage and sleeping on my mother's sofa.I had nothing but a paperbag full of clothes,a cat and a VW with 4 flat tires(thanks to the ex)....It took me 3 yrs of working in retail for $3.05 cents an hour to be able to hold my head up and look people in the eye again....I have always dreamed of being a nurse-I left that job to work as a nurse's aide for a time to be sure that nursing was what I really wanted....Going to school gave me back my life...no more abuse or drugs-I got my independence and courage back....Life stopped just happening to me-I started living again...

Ya know I haven't thought about the obstacles in a LONG time but now that someone brought it up I started thinking about them again. I had a child at the age of 17. She was concieved from a violent experience- don't need to detail it. I dropped out of school to start raising my child. I worked as a nurse's aide and lived in a 1 bedroom apt. (when one could live in one for 100.00 dollars). I attemped to figure out a way to go to nursing school within a few yrs. into working at the local hospital. Meantime I became sidetracked by a new boyfriend who moved me and my daughter accross country. There I decided that I was going to take positive steps to get to nursing school. I went to night school at the local high school and crammed a yr. into 6 wks. Yes, in 6 wks. I had a REAL high school diploma. Then I applied to LPN school and checked into nrsg. degree programs. Thngs then went sour with the b/f. I went to work in the hosp. again and had to get creative with my "steps for success". I took entrance exam for the LPN. The LPN program accepted me but I had no money and they had no student help for financing. I then looked at the college because they had all sorts of scolarships and student aide and whatnot. To make this long story shorter, I went through college with any and all fiancing programs I could qualify for and graduated at the age of 28. The 1st thing I did when I got my 1st job was to get my daughter a nice place to live with her own bedroom and I bought myself a new car~ We spent too many yrs. in dumps and driving around in downright unsafe cars. Now I can hardly imagine how it would have been trying to go to school and raising 4 kiddos! My story is easy compared to hers.

after 26 yrs of marriage I was divorced and earning 60% less than my spouse. I figured I had nothing to lose---so I went after my dream. I had lost my home, car, "status" and identity. Hard to adjust to poverty in middle age (when is it every easy???)I am white but went to a black college in order to get minority scholarship (this was YEARS ago) as I had no $, no credit, etc. Tough school, but I made lifelong friends. Now in grad school and making more than my ex (who, I am happy to say, is still having the same problems he did when we divorced). My kids are proud of me and so am I. Sorry if that sounds conceited, but it has taken me years to admit that I deserved a pat on the back!