Freaking out about starting nursing school in 23 days!

butterfly134 · Aug 15, 2011

First off, well done on getting into nursing school! The hard work paid off and I'd bet your delighted :)

Ok so financially, try to save money where you can, shop around to get the best deals, if you smoke or drink alcohol maybe quit or cut back, bring a packed lunch to work, only buy stuff you need. Just make a budget and do your best to stick to it. You should sit down and do this with your husband.

The pets well, you could make a rota on what needs to be done and when, share the workload with your husband.

Now you know your husband best and how to approach things but maybe you should sit down and have a good long chat with him. Tell him how you feel. Ask him how he feels. Compromise. Plan to have a movie night every week or have a pizza. See how he feels about that. If you plan something, stick to it though. Remember he is your husband and he will understand, he loves you but you too must remember that you are his wife and you need to remember he might get frustrated at times too. Just talk, dont argue, talk :) family first :)

Fit your conventions into your schedule, if you have one coming up, make sure you get your work done prior to it. Its a good thing, it will give you motivation and something to look forward to!!! Its all about planning ahead.

With regards to your social life, make friends with the people in you class. Clinicals are scary at times, situations make you nervous and no one will really understand how you feel but your fellow student nurses will because they are going through it too. Im studyin for my BSN and I dont know what I would do without my friends. We laughed together, we cry together, we are there for each other. Plus you spend a lot of time at nursing school, itd be nice to have friends you can go to lunch with, grab a coffee with and study sessions can actually be fun if you are with friends, just make sure you are actually learning! I've made some friends in nursing school that I hope to be friends with for life!!

And its normal to feel nervous about starting something new. You got this far because you were focused and worked hard. You got accepted so obviously you are doing something right. No one can predict the future but all you can do is your best. Think positively! If you dont understand something ask for clarification, get in contact with your teachers if you are having difficulty. Ask for help. If on clincials ask lots of questions, learn lots. Clinicals are scary but really really fulfilling, even doing the smallest thing for a patient like making them comfortable makes you feel good in yourself. You know you are making a difference :)

ok so ive just read that you feel socially awkward, if you cant study in groups thats fine, no one says you have to unless its group work and well then you will just have to work as part of a team :) stand strong, lift your head high and tell yourself you can do it! cos you can! i've heard if you act confident well then you start to feel confident. be nice, smile and be friendly. make friends, do your best to make friends even if its hard. Just introduce yourself and get chatting! So what if you arent besties with the first person you chat to, at least you made an effort, no harm in that. Takes a few weeks even months to really start being friends and no longer just aquaintances.

You obviously worked realy hard to lose the weight, remenmber this. Keep yourself in check, snack on healthy food, drink plenty of water and as i said bring packed lunch and extra fruit so that you eat well and save money! :) win win situation :)

At the end of the day if you really dont like nursing school, well its only a short time and then you will be a nurse! think of all the reasons why you want to go into nursing and think of all the hard work you have already put in and how much you are sacrificing. However on the brighter note, Im studying for my BSN atm and I love nursing school. I really do. I work hard and put in a lot of effort and I ask for help and ask lots of questions. I got nervous sometimes and I cried sometimes when I got home. Although I also had SO much fun!!! Just always try to think on the bright side, the glass is half full okay :)

best of luck!!! :)

trudiegrl · Aug 15, 2011

I'm also starting nursing school in... 7 days.. So if anyone is entitled to freak out it will be me jk :)

but really.. you shouldn't freak out. or worry... just make sure that your hubby will help out with the pets and makes sure you manage your time wisely and never bring money to clinicals so you don't get tempted to eat vending machine food.

I'm trying to lose weight myself, so I made sure I have a schedule and so I can squeeze in at least 30 minutes to workout 3x a week. I'm actually blogging my weightloss journey and nursing school called nursing school diet at blogger.

Best of luck! :)

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Aug 15, 2011

I start school in 9 days...

MANDA912 · Aug 16, 2011

I start LPN school in a few weeks and have the same EXACT worries...uugghhh. I worry if I can handle it, if I will be able to learn and memorize everything. I worry about making friends and study groups because I have social anxiety. I have had the same job for the last 10 years and I will be leaving so that I can dedicate 100% to do this, so it will be a very big life change for me. It is a little comforting to know that other people have the same worries as I do :confused: . Good luck to everyone wherever you are going!

mamayogibear · Aug 16, 2011

I am freaking out about starting school in a little over a month. Well not really about starting school, I can't wait for lecture and clinicals to start and things to fall into place! However I am moving to go to school and haven't yet found a house where I can have my dog. Oh well if all else fails I can always live in my van for the first few weeks of school!

opal86 · Aug 16, 2011

Hi GamerGirl,

I am going into my last year of my nursing program, and I had many of the concerns that you have now. I don't think nursing school material itself is hard, there's just a lot of it, so read your texts and study your butt off. You can do it. The one thing you will keep hearing from everyone is that the learning never stops. And practice your skills in your school's lab so when you're in your clinical setting you know what you are doing, you will impress your teacher and show confidence and competence to the patient. I wish I had done more of that last year. I am a bit socially awkward as well, I am not "outgoing" by any means, but I am a real, genuine, and kind person, and a lot of my patients appreciated that. Listening is most important and you will learn ways to "therapeutically" communicate with them, which basically means the conversations are all about them, their problems, and their needs. As far as your social life goes... that's just part of the sacrifice,as well as less hours at your job, but hopefully it's all well worth it. I also hate studying in groups because it confuses me and sometimes it becomes a social hour, which can be annoying when you want to get down to business, so if that's your style , stick with it. I have studied by myself and have done well. They definitely kept encouraging certain study habits that I didn't think worked for me, such as flash cards, studying in groups, etc. it is worth trying once, just to see how in depth other people are studying so that you can feel more prepared. If you're sitting there and you are thinking "omg I should study way more" then do it. Also, don't let any of the instructors discourage you, some of them can be really mean. I wish you the best of luck this year :)