Are doubts normal?

[honeyforasalteyfish]

I keep hearing you have to know you want to be a nurse, and usually I find I want nothing else more. Every once in awhile I just want to take a vacation, forget about life, forget about my goals forget about my ambitions.

I want to just veg for a day, because it is so rare I am allowed to. That is if I want to make anywhere near the marks required for nursing school.

I doubt at my age 27 if I have the time, the finnances, the health, the stamina, and the mental acuity to be a nurse.

Then I just think if I don't give it everything I will have I will regret it. I could still go for another science degree such as engineering, another difficult degree, but I don't want to.

Some times I just want to take a mental health day, and I wonder why I ignored my counselors advice not to take three sciences in one semester.

That is right my precious timeline. I feel so old to be without a college education, I want it as fast as possible. I want a home, a degree, solid employment I can feel good about, I want a family someday, and I want to send kids to college some how someway some day.

Yet I have doubts, about my capabilities, my past, my issues, my life, and I find sometimes it gets to me.

I try to carefully balance confidence with humility, but I find self doubts creeps in whenever I get less than an A on an exam. I have yet to get a C, and I have no fears that I will, but I have a slew of Bs, and I find they fill me with doubt about weather, or not I made the right decision.

I gambled my savings taking prereqs, a CNA course, I am debt free now with my medical bills paid down, and I will have comepleted all prereqs with no debt. So if I am accepted to a nursing school I will be in a good situation if I can pass.

But what If I don't get in I blew through 10k in a year paying out of pocket for my prereqs, and the moneys gone what kind of degree could I get if I am denied entry to nursing schools? I don't know just needed to vent.

Its what I want, and I think I have a shot. Still I get down on myself everytime I fall short of near perfection. Does any one else experience this.

[Pat_Pat RN]

Doubt gets in everyone's way sometimes or another. I have 2 degrees and the equivalent of a third in "fire science", or at least enough to get a job with a FT fire department. I have doubt daily. I graduated nursing school at 32, so you aren't too old to start. And it may not be for you, and you may waste money paying for it. But you don't know unless you try. Have you ever been around nursing? Any nurses in your family? Plus it really depends on what kind of nursing you want to do. LTC is nothing like Med/Surg nursing, or home health or dialysis....on and on it goes.

Hope some of that helps.

[Farawyn]

I didn't know I always wanted to be a nurse. When I went back to school after my BA in Psych (which is the one thing I always said I wanted to do "without a doubt"!) I was in my early 20s. I had doubts daily. I have doubts now about where I want to end up in nursing. I have doubts about continuing my BSN bridge, rolling it over into a Master's, or just letting it lie.

Happens all the time. There are no guarantees. That's kind of the fun part, though, because if there were, people wouldn't explore and search and get experiences outside the box. Imagine walking a straight line from point A to B all the time? Boring!

This is a big undertaking. I would be more worried about the person who has no doubts at all.

[Spuen]

Doubts are very normal especially with how stressful life can be, regardless of what your job is. I just turned 26 and someday all I want to do is chill and block the rest of the world out. Once in a while it's what you need to recharge and take on the days ahead. But you will face that regardless of what you do in life, now a days you need a degree for most jobs and even then a solid career is not guaranteed. There are 6 major colleges/ universities with nursing programs where I am all competing for the same jobs. So it's a struggle. I know every college is different but I didn't have the best grades and averaged a low B in my prerequisites, I managed to get into nursing school thankfully. So keep at it and stay determined. Doubt is normal but don't let it stop you.

[Stitch3296]

Having doubts is a normal part of lofe, just don't let yourself get stuck there. One day at a time, it's all you can do. Sounds like you've worked hard, keep at it and you'll get there. But don't forget to take breaks. Take a mental health day, do whatever it is that you enjoy. And when you can, take a vacation. One of the ways you will continue to be successful as a student nurse and a nurse is self care. Even if it's something small like a good cup of coffee or an extra long hot shower. And 27 isn't old. I graduated from nursing school at 37, and got my 1st nursing job at 38. You got this!

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

Does anyone else experience this?

(raising hand high)

Most definitely. I'm turning 40 this year, and will be graduating in December with my BSN. I have an MSEd and a teaching career of 18 years. I look around me in the classroom and see lots of 22 year olds who seem to know what they want in life, and here's little old me still wondering what aspect of nursing I want to go into once I graduate.

They even call me 'mom.'

So here I am, starting anew. I prefer to think of it as "life experience." Better than, "did I waste my graduate degree?" experience, or, "I should have stayed a teacher and not wasted all this $$$!' experience.

With that said, I notice when I start getting pessimistic, the more I need a break and a mental health day is desperately needed. Even at my busiest, sometimes you just have to recharge.

It would be crazy if you weren't full of doubt at times.