Does nursing have to be your "calling" for you to be a great nurse?

[WantAccel.BSN]

I'm a second degree/second career student. I got my bachelor's in psych. and had intended on going to law school. I did, and I hated it. Hated the people, hated the aggressiveness. After a year, I felt convinced that arguing all day every day would break me. I have always wanted to help people and advocate for them, but I didn't feel like the legal arena was the best place for me, personally, to do that. After leaving law school, I took the first job I could get because of the educational loan debt I was in, and have been working in community mental health since that time.

I've wanted to pursue nursing since before I left law school. My mother is a nurse, and I really believe that I possess the same qualities that she does that have made nursing a good fit for her. So my question is, does nursing really have to be your first choice for it to be the best choice for you? Does it have to be your "calling"? An acquaintance of mine recently insinuated that I wasn't "called" into this profession because it will be my second career/second degree. Maybe I was called, just in a different way then others. Regardless, it seems like no one can accept that I simply changed my mind. I feel like I'm perceived as a quitter. I took a chance and tried something, and it didn't work out. I've researched and put a great deal of time into getting information about nursing in an attempt to be sure that this is, in fact, the right path, but I'm so sick of people like the one I referenced above. How do you second degree people out there deal with questions and statements like this?

Thanks everyone so much for any advice! :bowingpur

[Scrubby]

I don't believe that nursing should be a 'calling'. I've met many a student who felt that they were 'called' into the profession who received a very rude awakening when they saw the realities of nursing; violent patients and families, limited resources and having to appease the bean counters, the horrors of shift work.

I personally never felt this calling I've heard about. I wanted a profession that would guarantee me a job out of university with the opportunity for career advancement. I also enjoy working with people and love to learn about anatomy, pathophysiology.

While mostly I love my job there are days where I question whether I should continue as a nurse. But this is mainly due to politics that go on in my workplace.

[missjennmb]

My first "calling" was to be a member of the peace corp. My second to be a Social Worker. My third "calling" was to do Software Programming. :) My fourth "calling" was to be a stay at home mom/independent web based business owner. My fifth"calling" was to be a nurse.

I am not the kind of person who can do any one thing forever. I want to help people, but I also get bored if not challenged intellectually. I can't imagine doing any one thing forever. BUT, I know that I have always wanted to help people and take care of people (social work, childcare, peace corp) and I need an intellectual challenge and to avoid living in poverty to do it (programming). I'm hoping that all comes together with Nursing.

I think of marriage and how people say everyone has "the one" that they were meant to be with. Some people never find that person. I did. But it was my second marriage, when I was 24 years old and living as a single mom in poverty working 10 hrs a day and NOT looking for or wanting a relationship. Sometimes that thing or person that completes you comes only when it wants to. Maybe its divine intervention and maybe its not. I just know that if I refused to open my mind to possible new experiences I never would have found my husband, who I have no doubt is my soul mate, and I have that philosophy about all things. Good things happen when you least expect them, and to be quite honest, I cant imagine ever knowing what I wanted to do with myself right out of high school. I am not remotely that person anymore and nothing that felt "right" to me then would complete me now.

[HonestRN]

No. I went into nursing because of my interest in science and my love of interacting with people and I am a good nurse. To me, suggesting that nursing is a "calling" denigrates the profession to one of self sacrificing martyrs and likens nurses to Mother Theresa.

[MinnieMomRN]

Calling?? Uhhmmm... noooo...

But then again, I have a history of never picking up my phone.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I started out Pre-vet, then switched to Animal Science, then Ag Business, then finally General business. I got my bachelor's in business in 2000. After a few years of not knowing what I wanted to do and various office jobs, I applied to and was accepted to law school. I was even given a hefty scholarship. Just before I was supposed to start, my husband became ill and went into the hospital. That changed my thinking and my career plans. I cancelled Law School and started getting my pre-reqs for nursing school. I graduated in August 2007 with my BSN from an accelerated program.

To this day I regret that I was not mature enough when I first started college to stick with Veterinary Medicine. It was hard and I was not used to studying and I simply gave up. Does that mean I do not love my job? Absolutely not. Does it mean I am not a good nurse? Absolutely not.

[NewTexasRN]

No, I really don't think so because grow and evolve and eventually discover that nursing is for them years later. Don't doubt yourself. You are going to be a wonderful nurse.

[bronzemint23]

I am in the same boat my friend! I've been questioning whether I'm about to take a giant leap into something that wasn't my first choice.... but I do want to pursue it. A lot of people are becoming nurses even simply for a better paycheck, and in this economy, I don't blame them. So don't let anyone make you doubt your reasons for wanting to do something different...

Sometimes some people are just plain jealous and don't want to see anyone succeed... don't listen to haters, follow your gut!

[jjjoy, LPN]

How do YOU feel, OP, about pursuing nursing? Perhaps you can use your reaction to such statements to help gauge your own feelings about this possible new career direction.

I've changed directions a few times myself. I just didn't know what was a good fit for me and needed life experience to help figure it out. After lots of college and two false starts in two different careers (teaching and nursing), I was tempted to jump back into school yet again to start along another career path. By then, though, I realized that I just really didn't know what kind of career would be a good fit. I had given long thought to the previous two, had volunteered, shadowed, interviewed, thought it could work for me, and made it through training successfully, but when it came to doing that work full-time, day after day, week after week, I found myself drained and overwhelmed in ways I'd never felt before. I was clearly misjudging myself and figured there was no point in taking another stab at school without more life experience so that I could know myself better.

So instead of going back to school, I started looking for work that was interesting and "do-able" to me without trying to figure out where exactly it was leading career-wise. I'd already tried twice to make it in fields with clear career paths and ended up frustrated. I've been working the last several years in health information. My work is challenging to me in a good way and I feel I have a future in this. I'm glad I decided to work instead of going straight back to school. If I go back to school now, I'll have a much better idea of what I'm going to do with that education.

Just food for thought!

[buggszephyr]

Sounds like someone else's world view being pushed your way. Calling, Destiny, Karma...whatever... Unless we all think we're Luke Skywalker or something and we can't do something without the will of the Force we might as well just stay home. If YOU think it would be a cool professsion and something you might be good at, then jump on in!

[truern]

I feel sorry for y'all that didn't have a "calling".

God has my number on speed dial

OP, with a solid knowledge base and a good work ethic you'll make a GREAT nurse...regardless of "calling".

[camay1221_RN]

I'm a second career RN also and I didn't have the 'calling' to become a nurse. But I can't imagine doing anything else either! I just love working with people, plain and simple.

[FroggyMama]

Not at all. I've been told I'm a very good nurse, and I'd rather not be doing it. My 'calling' is to be a Mom. I wish I didn't have to work at all. But since I do right now, I take my job seriously, and try my best at it, and apparently it pays off. I've had nothing but good responses from coworkers, mgmt, and pts. That does not mean I feel like I have to be a nurse, or that it is a major part of my self-worth. I could drop it today and never look back if that was financially possible.