Did anyone tell you, you couldn't do it?

Nurses General Nursing

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I want to be a nurse and one day I hope I will be. But sometimes it can be so discouraging when you have people telling you, you can't do it. They say you're dumb, unfocused and just doesn't have what it takes to be a nurse. I just don't get how cruel people can be sometimes. :( So I was wondering if any of you had people put you down and and discourage you from doing something?

Growing up, I had a step-mother that would routinely say ( to my sister and I) " You girls will never amount to anything!"

I am an RN/BN, EMT-P, an Instructor of Advanced paramedic Clinical skills, and currently in Libya with the Red Cross.

My sister is CFO of a major property management firm.

Never allow anyone to define you. You know what you want, what motivates and inspires you, and the hard work you are willing to invest to get there!!! Perseverance, commitment and dedication will get you there!! ( and a little motivation to prove them wrong, never hurts!!:sneaky:)

Incidentily, her biological kids ( the " Golden ones") have done nothing...one is an unemployed, pot smoking hobo...and the other in the " clink" for drug charges.

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.

Was told by numerous doctors/therapists that I'd be lucky if I wasn't totally institutionalized by the time I was 18. When I decided to go into nursing as a (still struggling) young adult, I was told that nursing school would be "too stressful" and- by at least one blunt psychiatrist- that I was just too mentally ill to be a nurse. My brother brought me in the paperwork to go on disability because that "made more sense."

These days, I'm mostly normal. Survived school and am now a burn nurse. Even have a mortgage, a husband, and a car payment. :)

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I was my own worst enemy/critic. I had so much support from everyone. However, I was absolutely terrified of failing, of not only letting myself down, but more so of letting them down. I had to constantly remind myself to not be negative when others were being so positive around me! I think it makes a big difference when there is positive energy around!

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Specializes in Obs & gynae theatres.

Yes, my husband. Although he has since denied ever saying that, lol. It kept me going through the toughest parts of my training though as I was determined to prove him wrong.

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

I flunked a management clinical but the instructor said I was more than capable once I reorganized my priorities.

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Yes! My regular non-nursing advisor told me to choose another career, because realistically I wouldn't get into the program based on my previous bad grades from right out of high school. I then decided to meet with a nursing advisor at a different university & he suggested that I retake all the classes I failed. Now why didn't that lady tell me to do that? Bottom line, I will be applying to this other school in a few weeks & if I get accepted, I swear I'm rubbing it in her face! She made me feel stupid & I thought long & hard about switching majors, but each day that I'd wake up, I'd still want to do nursing & don't think I'd be happy doing anything else. I drastically raised my overall GPA. If you want something badly enough, NOBODY can stop you. Most people that tell you that you can't do it are the people that are jealous that you have the opportunity to do it!

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My first clinical instructor told me to pursue a different career because I didn't have "the right kind of personality" for nursing. She said I would never be able to make it because I was too quiet. I made it my mission to prove her wrong. Ive been a nurse for 7 years now and frequently receive complements for my listening skills and ability to pick up on things that others miss because they didn't take the time to actively listen.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

My occupational rehab counselor told me "there's no way you will be able to return to nursing, ever." Went back, graduated, passed the boards, a pediatric nurse. Success works when YOU are the one dictating it!!

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

I had a prof that liked me really well from the very start of freshman year, telling me that i should do ICU because they needed good nurses in ICU....then senior year second semester I overslept a test for his nursing ethics class. Suddenly, I wasn't cut out to be a nurse, and he wasn't sure I deserved to retake the test or graduate with a nursing degree at all.

And at my first job, the nurse educator told me that I wasn't cut out for pediatrics, because my preceptor hadn't liked me (she didn't seem to like students). I had to fight for them to give me a second chance with a different preceptor.

Now I'm a peds cardiac surgical ICU nurse, and it's exactly where I am supposed to be.

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Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.

Yes,

I had a nursing instructor ask me "how would you like a nurse like you taking care of your mother"? Exact words and will never forget them. I am a thorough, caring, and compassionate nurse of 5 years. I cried every clinical with that woman.

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I had a few people....

My first teacher at the nursing school I attend...the class was to expose us to nursing-I barely passed and the teacher told me "I needed to find another career."

Also, one of my friends...I worked in the Financial Industry and this was in 2003, I was looking into going back to school and her mother is a nurse. I used to love talking with her mom about her nursing experiences. One night I said "wow I would love to be a nurse." Without missing a beat my friend said "oh you have to be smart to become a nurse." So I didn't....

Fast forward now-I'm in my 2nd semester of nursing school and holding my own...thank God I have some people who support me and tell me that I am smart and I can do this...as well as understanding no one has the right to tell me what I can and cannot do with my dreams.

My ex-friend is still at the same dead end job

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

Yep.....'they' wouldn't even accept my application to the LPN-RN bridge program. Had nothing to do with GPA. They never even handed me an application when I asked for one. They said that since I had not taken the biologies, "don't even think about applying because you can't handle the case load. Come back in a year".:madface: Get this, when I received my RN license 10 months later after graduating from another program, the community college STILL had those 14 vacant LPN-RN bridge slots open. At the time, I had been an LPN for 24 years and although they had all those empty seats, I never got a chance to even see what that bridge application looked like. They prejudged me and my capabilities and THAT under-estimation armed me with what I needed to have an RN license in my hand 2 months BEFORE my "come back in a year" due date.:cheeky: Hopefully, by this time next year, my new title will be RN-BSN, RN-BC! Had I listened to them, I would just now be taking the NCLEX. Look at me now!:yes:

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