Just Needing Some Encouragement I Guess

Nursing Students General Students

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Nursing school is making me feel extremely drained lately. It's the constant fear that I'll make one wrong move and get kicked out of my program. The fear of failing an exam. The fear that I'm forgetting to do something because of the crazy amount of things there are to do. The feeling that I'm working as hard as I possibly can and it's only my mistakes that get noticed. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has these feelings. Any advice about how to deal with them?

Specializes in Medical cardiology.

I'm sure you are not alone. I'm sorry you are struggling.

What mistakes are getting noticed? What are you doing well with that you wished would get noticed? If you'd like to talk about them.

I excelled a lot, and it was never recognized during school. It's expected; and none of your teachers have time to pat anyone on the back. So no one will ever congratulate you for getting a 100 on an exam, or bringing up your grade 20 points, etc. It's best not to expect it at school or clinical, but you could tell your family and friends those things (or us here at AN), and I bet you'd get lots of encouragement.

Unfortunately, most teachers only have time to notice when students are not doing well, or making mistakes to try and help correct them before it becomes a problem that could be detrimental. I love constructive criticism and value it very much, but it does sting sometimes and take time to adjust to the harsh words. I'd like to hope that when you are given your corrections, they are useful and not mean in spirit.

Feel free to chat about it if you'd like to.

I'm sure you are not alone. I'm sorry you are struggling.

What mistakes are getting noticed? What are you doing well with that you wished would get noticed? If you'd like to talk about them.

I excelled a lot, and it was never recognized during school. It's expected; and none of your teachers have time to pat anyone on the back. So no one will ever congratulate you for getting a 100 on an exam, or bringing up your grade 20 points, etc. It's best not to expect it at school or clinical, but you could tell your family and friends those things (or us here at AN), and I bet you'd get lots of encouragement.

Unfortunately, most teachers only have time to notice when students are not doing well, or making mistakes to try and help correct them before it becomes a problem that could be detrimental. I love constructive criticism and value it very much, but it does sting sometimes and take time to adjust to the harsh words. I'd like to hope that when you are given your corrections, they are useful and not mean in spirit.

Feel free to chat about it if you'd like to.

Thanks for your kind response! The mistakes are usually little things like that I double-booked myself and had signed up for a service-learning project that is scheduled on a day I have clinical. I fixed it in time, luckily, and will be doing a make-up clinical at the end of the semester. Another thing was being the slowest one in my group to get the suction put together in clinical during a practice drill. The mistakes could have been worse, I know, but I'm a perfectionist. Plus, like I said, I worry a lot about possibly getting kicked out since I know how easy it is to fail.

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