Tonight is the night!!! I will be pinned at graduation!! All that hard work (and nclex to go...). I am going through feelings of elation, but I'm also feeling that letdown feeling--like the day after Christmas when you were a kid, and you have 364 more days to go until next Christmas.
I think it's because during nursing school, you have instructors and classmates behind you, and all of the sudden you feel like you're on your own as an RN.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any suggestions for feeling part of a group again as a new graduate going into their first nursing job? I would greatly appreciate any comments! Thanks!
I am glad I am not the only one that feels this way. I am graduating this sunday. Even though school ended last week I feel scared. I am worried about getting my 1st nursing job. I don't even want a graduation party I am just focusing on studing for my nclex right now. I am constantly worrying about the whole thing. I don't even feel like a nurse.
Congratulations to you too! :balloons: :Melody: :)
I'm glad you know what I'm talking about. For the last two years, my every day has been scheduled by nursing school. Now I have to pause and look around at my neglected home and think of other things I used to be about besides a nursing student... Wow! I did have a life! I'll dust it off and see what I can find!
We do have the NCLEX to keep us occupied. Some support does sound good--I'll keep a dry towel on my left shoulder if you need to cry on it!
Take Care--
Kitty-MayRN
Kitty, I am sure that I will take you up on the towel so keep it handy for me and I will do the same :) OMG, the past couple of days when I have been home the phone will ring and I will pick it up and there's nobody on the line..........frustrating, so I was talking to my Mom yesterday about it and she says "It happens all the time Kelly, you just haven't been around to notice it in a long time" Guess I got so used to NS life & the other stuff I just ignored.
The hardest part for me so far has been reconnecting with my 3 yo and realizing that it's ok for me to do nothing now if I want to!! :rotfl: Today I tackle the housework and OMG it will take me at least two hours just to get everything back to normal with all the dusting that hasn't been done since Spring Break and window washing!!
I am game for sharing studying tips Nurse2B. So far all I have done is go to a review course for 9 hours (which was a waste of time not too mention money) :angryfire . I decided that I could get more done at home so since Tuesday morning I have been doing a little reading out of that book and have been trying to answer at least 100-200 questions QD. I think that Suzanne suggested to answer as many as possible before NCLEX. I know I have to really get busy on it next week. I am game for studying together on line if anyone else wants to if any of our schedules could work out. I thought that it would be great to meet in the chat room, get our own chat room going and study some that way or at least if we have a question that we got wrong and really don't understand why, we could maybe explain it to one another as to how we rationalized the way we did for the answer.
Anyone that wants to study that way let me know so we can try to schedule time and I will be there!! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!
I'm scared too!! I didn't start feeling "nurse-like" until I got hired recently for my first job. That helped a little.
You're right that it's not an easy time to feel rested or relieved because we have NCLEX breathing down our necks. :chair: I feel like this is the biggest hurdle.
Are you preparing with kaplan or anything? We should start an NCLEX neurosis group!
I can meet Monday online in the chat room at about 10:00 am. Anyody else that reads this and wants to join-come on-we'll set up our own little room so everybody knows what we're doing.
If ya'll can't make it then let me know and we will see what other times work for us. I don't have my 3yo usually on Wed/Thur so any time except evenings on Thurs are good for me.
Let's do it and see if we can make it work ok.
I personally think that along with the tylenol, we should bring razors for the wrists, and rope for the neck!!! :rotfl: :rotfl:
i was pinned last tuesday and spent wednesday moping around. i thought it was just me and kept asking myself...what's wrong with you...i have worked towards this goal for years and when i've finally acheive it i'm sad?
you have helped so much by letting me know it's not just me. thanks for sharing.
i have a few interviews lined up next week. i'm also starting a kaplan review course. i think once i know what i'm doing in the fall i'll feel better. hopefully by then i will have passed the nclex and have a job lined up.
Tonight is the night!!! I will be pinned at graduation!! All that hard work (and nclex to go...). I am going through feelings of elation, but I'm also feeling that letdown feeling--like the day after Christmas when you were a kid, and you have 364 more days to go until next Christmas.
I think it's because during nursing school, you have instructors and classmates behind you, and all of the sudden you feel like you're on your own as an RN.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any suggestions for feeling part of a group again as a new graduate going into their first nursing job? I would greatly appreciate any comments! Thanks!
Kitty-MayRN
Hi,
I know exactly how you feel. Like you I just graduated too ( May 11th). I told my husband this feeling reminded me of the day of our wedding....COLD FEET.....The thought of being on my own once I get licensed makes me nervous, anxious and scared! I feel like I'm not ready to let go of my nursing instructors.....But I'm sure this is normal feelings....
I'm being pinned on Tuesday afternoon and then walking in the graduation ceremony later that night, along with my hubbie. I have felt really weird since finishing classes last week. I keep thinking I have to DO something and then realize, I don't have to do a DAMN thing. I've been cleaning and organizing my house, something that has not been done since before school started.
I'm not really excited about the whole pinning thing, but I suspect that will change once the day is upon me. I remember my high school graduation. I was leaving for Europe the day after graduation and I didn't get excited about any of it until I was sitting in my chair at the ceremony. Then the tears started and didn't stop until I was somewhere over the Atlantic....LOL.
I'm also kind of scared about my job. I've been working in the ICU for 1 1/2 years now and know everyone I will be working with, know the unit, etc. but I'm still freaked out that they are going to actually put me in charge of 2 people's lives for 12 hours each day! Up until now, I've been working under another RN's license. Soon, it will be all me. I will begin taking my own patients sometime in the beginning of July and it's scary....but in a good way, I guess.
One thing I've learned over the past 2 years of nursing school....don't stress about the tests! That goes for the NCLEX. I'm an extremely good test taker and I firmly believe a big part of it is because I don't have any test anxiety. I am doing 100 questions a day until it's time for the BIG ONE and have also found the Kaplan book you can find in the bookstore VERY helpful. It teaches you HOW to answer the question, even when you have NO idea what the hell they are asking you! LOL. My scores on practice tests went up about 20% after reading that book a few times.
One thing I don't like is the new format questions. We had several of them on our mock NCLEX our program gave to us (the ATI), and the entire class missed all of them!!!! One of the questions pertained to an area you palpate for a self breast exam. Several of the choices were SO close together, it was impossible to decide which one was correct. Nobody was very happy with that question. Also, I HATE the "check all that apply"....UGGGHHH. Bad questions for a Libra girl who can NEVER make up her mind. There might be 5 choices and 4 of them are correct, but if you only chose 3 of the 4 correctly, you get it wrong. Sigh.
Tonight is the night!!! I will be pinned at graduation!! All that hard work (and nclex to go...). I am going through feelings of elation, but I'm also feeling that letdown feeling--like the day after Christmas when you were a kid, and you have 364 more days to go until next Christmas.
I think it's because during nursing school, you have instructors and classmates behind you, and all of the sudden you feel like you're on your own as an RN.
Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone have any suggestions for feeling part of a group again as a new graduate going into their first nursing job? I would greatly appreciate any comments! Thanks!
Kitty-MayRN
Hi Kitty-May! My name is Christine and I just graduated today from nursing school, and have been telling my husband and non-nursing friends for the past week how strange I feel. They all say I should be happy, but I just feel sad and confused, like "now what do I do until I take NCLEX and when do I hear back from that interviewer?" So don't feel alone! I feel like it's the transition that is making me crazy! I don't know what to do with all my time...I want to fill it and feel productive. Plus, in nursing school, you had a routine and familiar and friendly faces to see every day during class and clinical...now it's all a big unknown until we get to the next point! Talk to you later! :)
I feel better knowing there are other quivering graduate nurses out there!
I would be happy to keep in touch with anyone who would like a graduate buddy!
take care,
Kitty-MayRN
Congrats, we did it. Yeah I too felt a bit down at after graduation. In my situation I haven't been in class since December. My is only 20 and we are a pretty close bunch so I've seen most of them at our lil' get togethers. Graduation was great, wonderful, exciting, sad, scary, and left me with a "So now what feeling?" My conclusion after much reflection is that it is just part of the transition from realizing we are the new generation... and that RN now applies to us with all of its rewards and responsibilities (gulp..). This has been a time of letting go and grieving one part of my journey and preparing for the unknown road ahead of me as I battle for the nursing position I want while at the same time thinking to myself "Am I ready for this?" Even as we embark on our journey, we will have those who want to see us succeed and those who don't. The tricky part is always reminding ourselves that we can and WILL succeed. Best of luck.
Success is a journey not a desination. --Ben Sweetland
Does anyone have any suggestions for feeling part of a group again as a new graduate going into their first nursing job? I would greatly appreciate any comments! Thanks!
Guess I got so used to NS life & the other stuff I just ignored. 
:balloons: 
I've got the Mosby's review question NCLEX study book. 
NewLPNgrad
3 Posts
I am glad I am not the only one that feels this way. I am graduating this sunday. Even though school ended last week I feel scared. I am worried about getting my 1st nursing job. I don't even want a graduation party I am just focusing on studing for my nclex right now. I am constantly worrying about the whole thing. I don't even feel like a nurse.