Feeling stuck and lost, a tale of burnout

Published Oct 2, 2017

2 Posts

I graduated with my BSN in May and passed my Nclex late July. I always felt great about pursuing a career in nursing. I graduated cum laude and was inducted into the international honor society of nursing and took my studies seriously. However semester of fall 2017, I got burnt out. Like full thickness burnt out. I had personal issues with an injury, family and relationship stuff and I became really anxious at clinicals over a miscommunication with my preceptor and a mistake drawing meds stressed me out so bad. The mixture of everything going on in my life was too much and I got really anxious and depressed. It's a miracle that I finished school and finished with good marks in spite of how I felt. [/COLOR][/font]

[COLOR=#000000]Fast forward to now and I just started applying. It took me months to recover from that stress and I avoided applying. My body and mind are just starting to heal. The problem is, its made me really jaded about nursing. I recently moved in alone and I know I need to start my career for the sake of my bills but I'm dreading feeling that stress again, and being afraid of making mistakes. I also feel really unconfident about my skills and haven't been in a clinical setting for a while and am worried about any sights of blood, venipunctures, etc making me woozy like they have in in the past. I am torn between feeling like I can do this and knowing I need to give it an honest chance and just wanting to quit altogether and find some other source of income. I am a strong and intelligent person but I do get really anxious sometimes and am really worried about looking totally incompetent among all the other fears I have including looking bad for graduating in May and still being unemployed as an RN. Advice?