There's No Such Thing As Over-prepared

As a nursing student, you don't have much time to yourself and your calendar ends up looking marked up with no empty spaces.

I've learned that it is better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. It is very important to make sure everything is together before classes start because you may not get the time to get it together later. Set your sleeping patterns right, get peace within your mind, and make sure to remove all the clutter in your life. Over the last several days, I've put up a bookshelf in my room for nursing books, cleaned my room, did laundry, cleaned my book bag out, sorted my papers, and reviewed skills I think I need. Yes, I can be a little OCD but I truly believe that what I did will make my mind a lot more clearer for the upcoming classes.

If you feel over-prepared, you will feel less anxiety. If you feel under-prepared, you will feel an extreme amount of anxiety. Now saying all that, if you don't get the time to do everything you think you need, it is okay. Write down the basic important things on a piece of paper and strive to do those things. Add 1 or 2 more things on the list if you accomplished the other things. This will make you feel very prepared and accomplished. I am not encouraging worry, I am encouraging diligence and wisdom. You'll need all the peace you can get, believe me.

Now this is how I prepared/preparing for my second semester to start:

Setting up an calendar with alerts

Getting my books and skimming though them.

Reviewing class notes.

Making connections to people who will be in my class/esp. clinical group.

Organizing the books I already have via book shelf.

Cleaning my room, book bag, and etc.

Making a budget.

Things I needed to do this:

Bookshelf for books.

Google calendar. I put the event names like Lecture, Test #1, Clinical Orientation, etc. I put the places or room number at the college (which is very helpful!). And I also put the time of the events. I love google calendar! Once I put events in the calendar, it synch's with every device I use to check the calendar. It is very easy to work with and you can have the calendar repeat events weekly, bi weekly, or monthly. I set up alerts and reminders on the calendar also.

Notes app. I make lists on this app and I use it to make a budgets also. The app is on my phone and laptop and it synch's!

Facebook: For connecting with fellow classmates. I myself made a Facebook page for all the nursing students our first semester so we could initiate contacts and form a community. It is very helpful. So if you need rides, reminders, help or information, you go there!

The books and notes for the classes you'll be taking.

School supplies: Highlighters, pens, pencils, notebooks, erasers, flash drive, etc.

Dividers and a binder: You need this so that you can organize your class notes. I use dividers to divide seminar, clinical, and lecture. I also use them to divide each unit.

A support group of veterans: This is a important thing to have. If you know people who have been through the nursing program, make connections and ask them for advice. It has been very helpful to me to have 2 friends who are in the second year and my Godmother who has been through both years to help me out. Their wisdom is very much needed.