I had my graduation commencement ceremony for our nursing class on wednesday. It was really nice to have a commencement ceremony just for the nursing students. you know what, I should be more excited that now I have graduated and ready to take the boards and become an RN. I want to start working, learn more about nursing, and hopefully deliver safe nursing care so I don't kill my patients. But right now, I'm kind of down and sad, I'm really going to miss my classmates, even though I didnt get to know most of them personally, deep down, we were all in it together. i've met new people, made some friends, and acquaintances. and i will hold those memories dearly.
mostly likely i won't get in touch with all of them, and I don't think I will keep in touch with my groupies in nursing school. actually, I didn't really have a group that I hanged out with in nursing school. It's unbelievable, 4 years of college seemed to take forever, but it went by so fast looking back at it now.
I can't sleep right now, I'm still adjusting to being a college nursing graduate. It feels so depressing right now. It feels like saying goodbye to a man or woman you really like and care about, but never really had to chance to tell that person how you feel. Well, something along that line at least, lol.
I'm really gonna miss school, but i have no intention of going back to pursue my masters. i say no thanks. i'm just going to miss my friends and my classmates.
any tips on how i can move on from this initial shock stage of being a new graduate nurse?
Here are some reasons why you might feel low after finishing nursing school.
The reality of being finished hasn't yet sunk in. You're probably going to spend at least a couple of weeks waking up in a panic or startling at odd moments, thinking you have to rush to get something done. Then you'll remember--it IS done.
You've spent the last few years in a fever pitch, with your body and brain marinated in adrenalin. You'll need some time to ramp down from that constant state of fight-or-flight. The new normal might feel dull and lethargic by comparison, but believe me, you CAN get used tofeeling human again.
Nursing school provided a tremendous amount of structure. Your days were mapped out and so were most of your nights. You were strapped to a class/clinical schedule, study times, a syllabus, a test schedule. With all of this in place, your decision-making capabilities (regarding discretionary time) atrophied. Now, just out of school, you're like a long-term prisoner seeing the light of day for the first time in ages and not being sure how to handle all the choices. Some ex-cons purposely mess up their parole and forfeit their freedom because the find themselves overwhelmed by the rush of autonomy. What they yearned for while confined becomes scary when it becomes real. You can't claw your way back into school, and you really don't want to.
In many cases, your classmates were your war buddies, sharing the same foxhole and speaking the same language about the same circumstances and events. When you were with them, you didn't have to explain. Even if you stay in touch, your paths are going to diverge. You'll most likely be working different places and you'll have to put forth effort to get each other up to speed when you do reconnect. Your old cameraderie will go from providing daily comfort and support to becoming a precious memory.
People will be looking at you now to justify all the time, effort, and expense you poured into your school. Rubber, meet road. This is akin to paying back a school loan. Payments are deferred until you finish. But then, you have to deliver. There is also the little matter of passing your boards. The safety net is now tucked away. It's you out there in the spotlight with more than a little pressure to make good. Talk about performance anxiety!
Your mind, body, spirit and emotions might experience a period of shock as you get proper sleep and nutrition for the first time in ages. Recreational pursuits, hobbies, sports, sex, cuddling--anything that feels like fun may feel so foreign--or so guilt-inducing (shouldn't you be studying?) that you have to reacquaint yourself gradually with being happy.
You may have been so absorbed by your schooling that coming back to earth leaves you stunned by how much your kids have grown, how ratty your house looks, how out of touch you've grown with family and friends. Feel guilty for about ten minutes, then take up where you left off and reconnect.
That brings me to a few ideas for how to ease the transition.
Every time you start to jump up in the urgent sense that you need to be leaving for a class or studying for a test, do some slow deep breathing and concentrate on learning how to live in the moment. Wallow in the sensation that you do NOT have to rush out the door or cram till your brain hurts.
Replace adrenalin rushes with moments of calm, laughter, gratitude. Think of how good it feels to unkink your tight muscles and relax.
Write out a reasonable schedule. Give yourself back some of the structure you lost (at a much nicer pace, of course) or you may find yourself swilling Mountain Dew and Ding Dongs on your couch in the bathrobe you've worn for three days straight.
Make plans to meet with classmates for lunch, shopping, phone chats, whatever. Wean yourself gradually. Fairly frequent contacts also diminish the need to spend time on huge catching-up sessions. You'll probably find yourself winnowing the list to a handful of closer friends. Treasure them and nurture your relationships over the years. You ARE old war buddies and no one will ever understand that part of your life like they will.
Resist the urge to buy into guilt trips or demands for balloon payments on all the sacrifices that have gone into your education--even if YOU are the one making them. It's more important to pass boards and find the right job than to prove your worthiness. You can't justify years of education in a month. Give yourself the time and space you need to grow into a full-fledged nurse. Just as you'll need orientation on the job, give yourself that same kind of cushion in the other parts of your life. Re-enty can be a challenge.
Enjoy eating and sleeping enough. Exercise. Watch some mindless TV just to remember how it feels to act without urgency. Get a good haircut. Take your kids on a picnic. Cuddle with your spouse. Clean a room, not out of guilt, but out of the pleasure of having the room and making it better. Make a list of things you put off or had to forego entirely to get through school and find ways to reclaim the lost experiences. Start journaling. Write small doable goals on slips of paper and put them in a jar to be pulled out now and then and accomplished. Refill the well so that you will be able to give out of your abundance to your loved ones and your patients.
Reconnect with everyone and everything you left behind. Go on dates with your spouse or s/o. Take each kid out individually for a couple of hours. Spend an afternoon walking through the rooms of your house, not cleaning or fixing yet, but simply taking a look through new non-exhausted eyes at what is actually there.
Learn something non-academic like Japanese cooking or fabric dyeing or how to speak Hebrew. The subject doesn't matter so much as the pursuit of fresh knowledge and the retooling of your brain.
Give hugs. Have fun. Watch Jeopardy! or The Dog Whisperer or CSI or cartoons or old movies. Bake bread. Blow bubbles. Smell flowers. Light candles. Tickle someone you love. Be tickled back. Roast marshmallows. Bring someone a treat. Have a good cry. Have an even better laugh. Give more hugs. Repeat.
Most important, don't waste ten seconds criticizing yourself for feeling a bit lost or depressed. You accomplished a tremendous task and your need for a transition period is not a sign that there is something wrong. It is actually confirmation that you are exactly where you're supposed to be. Be good to yourself and go with it.
I hope this helps a little with the disorientation and anxiety that come from leaving nursing school behind. Before you know it, this transition time will pass and you'll be caught up in the excitement of your new life.
Congratulations to each and every one of you. Job well done!
Wow, This Is Crazy To Find Out That I Will Miss All Of This Craziness That Is My Life Now. I Thought That I Would Be So Relieved To Be Out Of School. Maybe You And Some Of Your Class Mates Will Work For The Same Hospital. Congrats On Your Graduation.
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
The Parable of the Pebbles
A man was out walking in the desert when a voice said to him, "Pick up some pebbles and put them in your pocket, and tomorrow you will be both happy and sad."
The man obeyed. He stooped down and picked up a handful of pebbles and put them in his pocket. The next morning he reached into his pocket and found diamonds and rubies and emeralds. And he was both happy and sad. Happy he had taken some - sad that he hadn't taken more.
Here are some reasons why you might feel low after finishing nursing school.
The reality of being finished hasn't yet sunk in. You're probably going to spend at least a couple of weeks waking up in a panic or startling at odd moments, thinking you have to rush to get something done. Then you'll remember--it IS done.
You've spent the last few years in a fever pitch, with your body and brain marinated in adrenalin. You'll need some time to ramp down from that constant state of fight-or-flight. The new normal might feel dull and lethargic by comparison, but believe me, you CAN get used tofeeling human again.
Nursing school provided a tremendous amount of structure. Your days were mapped out and so were most of your nights. You were strapped to a class/clinical schedule, study times, a syllabus, a test schedule. With all of this in place, your decision-making capabilities (regarding discretionary time) atrophied. Now, just out of school, you're like a long-term prisoner seeing the light of day for the first time in ages and not being sure how to handle all the choices. Some ex-cons purposely mess up their parole and forfeit their freedom because the find themselves overwhelmed by the rush of autonomy. What they yearned for while confined becomes scary when it becomes real. You can't claw your way back into school, and you really don't want to.
In many cases, your classmates were your war buddies, sharing the same foxhole and speaking the same language about the same circumstances and events. When you were with them, you didn't have to explain. Even if you stay in touch, your paths are going to diverge. You'll most likely be working different places and you'll have to put forth effort to get each other up to speed when you do reconnect. Your old cameraderie will go from providing daily comfort and support to becoming a precious memory.
People will be looking at you now to justify all the time, effort, and expense you poured into your school. Rubber, meet road. This is akin to paying back a school loan. Payments are deferred until you finish. But then, you have to deliver. There is also the little matter of passing your boards. The safety net is now tucked away. It's you out there in the spotlight with more than a little pressure to make good. Talk about performance anxiety!
Your mind, body, spirit and emotions might experience a period of shock as you get proper sleep and nutrition for the first time in ages. Recreational pursuits, hobbies, sports, sex, cuddling--anything that feels like fun may feel so foreign--or so guilt-inducing (shouldn't you be studying?) that you have to reacquaint yourself gradually with being happy.
You may have been so absorbed by your schooling that coming back to earth leaves you stunned by how much your kids have grown, how ratty your house looks, how out of touch you've grown with family and friends. Feel guilty for about ten minutes, then take up where you left off and reconnect.
That brings me to a few ideas for how to ease the transition.
Every time you start to jump up in the urgent sense that you need to be leaving for a class or studying for a test, do some slow deep breathing and concentrate on learning how to live in the moment. Wallow in the sensation that you do NOT have to rush out the door or cram till your brain hurts.
Replace adrenalin rushes with moments of calm, laughter, gratitude. Think of how good it feels to unkink your tight muscles and relax.
Write out a reasonable schedule. Give yourself back some of the structure you lost (at a much nicer pace, of course) or you may find yourself swilling Mountain Dew and Ding Dongs on your couch in the bathrobe you've worn for three days straight.
Make plans to meet with classmates for lunch, shopping, phone chats, whatever. Wean yourself gradually. Fairly frequent contacts also diminish the need to spend time on huge catching-up sessions. You'll probably find yourself winnowing the list to a handful of closer friends. Treasure them and nurture your relationships over the years. You ARE old war buddies and no one will ever understand that part of your life like they will.
Resist the urge to buy into guilt trips or demands for balloon payments on all the sacrifices that have gone into your education--even if YOU are the one making them. It's more important to pass boards and find the right job than to prove your worthiness. You can't justify years of education in a month. Give yourself the time and space you need to grow into a full-fledged nurse. Just as you'll need orientation on the job, give yourself that same kind of cushion in the other parts of your life. Re-enty can be a challenge.
Enjoy eating and sleeping enough. Exercise. Watch some mindless TV just to remember how it feels to act without urgency. Get a good haircut. Take your kids on a picnic. Cuddle with your spouse. Clean a room, not out of guilt, but out of the pleasure of having the room and making it better. Make a list of things you put off or had to forego entirely to get through school and find ways to reclaim the lost experiences. Start journaling. Write small doable goals on slips of paper and put them in a jar to be pulled out now and then and accomplished. Refill the well so that you will be able to give out of your abundance to your loved ones and your patients.
Reconnect with everyone and everything you left behind. Go on dates with your spouse or s/o. Take each kid out individually for a couple of hours. Spend an afternoon walking through the rooms of your house, not cleaning or fixing yet, but simply taking a look through new non-exhausted eyes at what is actually there.
Learn something non-academic like Japanese cooking or fabric dyeing or how to speak Hebrew. The subject doesn't matter so much as the pursuit of fresh knowledge and the retooling of your brain.
Give hugs. Have fun. Watch Jeopardy! or The Dog Whisperer or CSI or cartoons or old movies. Bake bread. Blow bubbles. Smell flowers. Light candles. Tickle someone you love. Be tickled back. Roast marshmallows. Bring someone a treat. Have a good cry. Have an even better laugh. Give more hugs. Repeat.
Most important, don't waste ten seconds criticizing yourself for feeling a bit lost or depressed. You accomplished a tremendous task and your need for a transition period is not a sign that there is something wrong. It is actually confirmation that you are exactly where you're supposed to be. Be good to yourself and go with it.
I hope this helps a little with the disorientation and anxiety that come from leaving nursing school behind. Before you know it, this transition time will pass and you'll be caught up in the excitement of your new life.
Congratulations to each and every one of you. Job well done!
This is an excellent post..Today, I officially graduated since I took my final and the final grades are posted..Right now, I still have that going to school mentality but I know I dont go anymore..My brain was so caught up with studying that I think I have to still study for the next exam but I dont anymore..
I take my boards tomorrow and when I was thinking about it the other day I started crying...then I thought, I must me crazy....all through school I complained about not having any free time and having to schedule everything around nursing school! I was so glad when I found this site and read all these posts, my husband doesn't understand at all...at least now I know I'm not nuts!
I know how you feel! I graduated on Sunday and now I don't know what to do with myself! It's like you've built up graduation in your mind for soooo long and worked sooo hard for (in my case 4 years) to get here and then poof it's over! I am really proud of my accomplishment, but I don't know, I just feel kind of down too. I am going next week for my NCLEX review class at school, then I go back in August for my BSN, but I just feel kinda down right now. Maybe things will pick up after (if) I pass NCLEX!
Here are some reasons why you might feel low after finishing nursing school.
The reality of being finished hasn't yet sunk in. You're probably going to spend at least a couple of weeks waking up in a panic or startling at odd moments, thinking you have to rush to get something done. Then you'll remember--it IS done.
You've spent the last few years in a fever pitch, with your body and brain marinated in adrenalin. You'll need some time to ramp down from that constant state of fight-or-flight. The new normal might feel dull and lethargic by comparison, but believe me, you CAN get used tofeeling human again.
Nursing school provided a tremendous amount of structure. Your days were mapped out and so were most of your nights. You were strapped to a class/clinical schedule, study times, a syllabus, a test schedule. With all of this in place, your decision-making capabilities (regarding discretionary time) atrophied. Now, just out of school, you're like a long-term prisoner seeing the light of day for the first time in ages and not being sure how to handle all the choices. Some ex-cons purposely mess up their parole and forfeit their freedom because the find themselves overwhelmed by the rush of autonomy. What they yearned for while confined becomes scary when it becomes real. You can't claw your way back into school, and you really don't want to.
In many cases, your classmates were your war buddies, sharing the same foxhole and speaking the same language about the same circumstances and events. When you were with them, you didn't have to explain. Even if you stay in touch, your paths are going to diverge. You'll most likely be working different places and you'll have to put forth effort to get each other up to speed when you do reconnect. Your old cameraderie will go from providing daily comfort and support to becoming a precious memory.
People will be looking at you now to justify all the time, effort, and expense you poured into your school. Rubber, meet road. This is akin to paying back a school loan. Payments are deferred until you finish. But then, you have to deliver. There is also the little matter of passing your boards. The safety net is now tucked away. It's you out there in the spotlight with more than a little pressure to make good. Talk about performance anxiety!
Your mind, body, spirit and emotions might experience a period of shock as you get proper sleep and nutrition for the first time in ages. Recreational pursuits, hobbies, sports, sex, cuddling--anything that feels like fun may feel so foreign--or so guilt-inducing (shouldn't you be studying?) that you have to reacquaint yourself gradually with being happy.
You may have been so absorbed by your schooling that coming back to earth leaves you stunned by how much your kids have grown, how ratty your house looks, how out of touch you've grown with family and friends. Feel guilty for about ten minutes, then take up where you left off and reconnect.
That brings me to a few ideas for how to ease the transition.
Every time you start to jump up in the urgent sense that you need to be leaving for a class or studying for a test, do some slow deep breathing and concentrate on learning how to live in the moment. Wallow in the sensation that you do NOT have to rush out the door or cram till your brain hurts.
Replace adrenalin rushes with moments of calm, laughter, gratitude. Think of how good it feels to unkink your tight muscles and relax.
Write out a reasonable schedule. Give yourself back some of the structure you lost (at a much nicer pace, of course) or you may find yourself swilling Mountain Dew and Ding Dongs on your couch in the bathrobe you've worn for three days straight.
Make plans to meet with classmates for lunch, shopping, phone chats, whatever. Wean yourself gradually. Fairly frequent contacts also diminish the need to spend time on huge catching-up sessions. You'll probably find yourself winnowing the list to a handful of closer friends. Treasure them and nurture your relationships over the years. You ARE old war buddies and no one will ever understand that part of your life like they will.
Resist the urge to buy into guilt trips or demands for balloon payments on all the sacrifices that have gone into your education--even if YOU are the one making them. It's more important to pass boards and find the right job than to prove your worthiness. You can't justify years of education in a month. Give yourself the time and space you need to grow into a full-fledged nurse. Just as you'll need orientation on the job, give yourself that same kind of cushion in the other parts of your life. Re-enty can be a challenge.
Enjoy eating and sleeping enough. Exercise. Watch some mindless TV just to remember how it feels to act without urgency. Get a good haircut. Take your kids on a picnic. Cuddle with your spouse. Clean a room, not out of guilt, but out of the pleasure of having the room and making it better. Make a list of things you put off or had to forego entirely to get through school and find ways to reclaim the lost experiences. Start journaling. Write small doable goals on slips of paper and put them in a jar to be pulled out now and then and accomplished. Refill the well so that you will be able to give out of your abundance to your loved ones and your patients.
Reconnect with everyone and everything you left behind. Go on dates with your spouse or s/o. Take each kid out individually for a couple of hours. Spend an afternoon walking through the rooms of your house, not cleaning or fixing yet, but simply taking a look through new non-exhausted eyes at what is actually there.
Learn something non-academic like Japanese cooking or fabric dyeing or how to speak Hebrew. The subject doesn't matter so much as the pursuit of fresh knowledge and the retooling of your brain.
Give hugs. Have fun. Watch Jeopardy! or The Dog Whisperer or CSI or cartoons or old movies. Bake bread. Blow bubbles. Smell flowers. Light candles. Tickle someone you love. Be tickled back. Roast marshmallows. Bring someone a treat. Have a good cry. Have an even better laugh. Give more hugs. Repeat.
Most important, don't waste ten seconds criticizing yourself for feeling a bit lost or depressed. You accomplished a tremendous task and your need for a transition period is not a sign that there is something wrong. It is actually confirmation that you are exactly where you're supposed to be. Be good to yourself and go with it.
I hope this helps a little with the disorientation and anxiety that come from leaving nursing school behind. Before you know it, this transition time will pass and you'll be caught up in the excitement of your new life.
Congratulations to each and every one of you. Job well done!
Wow this is an awesome post that I will need to show to my family, who are convinced that I am both nuts and ungrateful for the ability to attend and finish college. I have been feeling soo unsettled this week that the smallest thing puts me into tears- and I am usually very stoic. Makes sense when compared to the just out of prison analogy. Thank you to all who have given advice to the OP and all the rest of us!
Great post RN/writer. I also enjoyed reading all of the other posts by the other users in this forum. I really appreciate reading it and to realize that this seems to be a normal process. I guess I'm not depress, just a little sad, but I'm looking forward to finishing up strong and passing the NCLEX.
I wish I could get out of town and go to Hawaii, New York, wherever, just out of state and out of town and take some time off to myself, lol, but I'm so broke. Well I start working at my local hospital soon as an Interim Permit RN, and I'm reviewing for my NCLEX now, I have read 400 pages of the Saunders Comphrehensive RN review book, in just 20 days, lol, and I'm going to keep at it till I finish, and practice lots of questions afterwards. Study, and work as an RN interim permit, that should keep me busy. Hopefully I can pass my boards in July, then I plan to take a vacation to Hawaii once I pass it, if I fail it, I'll be devastated, but I'll take the vacation anyways, lol, call me crazy but I have not left the city I live in for 3 and a half years now, I wish I could just drop everything and go for it and reward myself.
That's my new goal, reward myself once I pass the boards by going to Hawaii or somewhere nice. Cheer me on, and good luck to everybody else in this board, I hope you folks do okay, and as pedro sanchez once said in Napoleon Dynamit, May your wildest dreams come true.
I definitely know how you feel. In fact, just the other day I sent an E-mail to a friend with the subject line "school's out! I should be happy but I'm not. Some of my friends from school think I'm crazy for feeling this way. A big part of my problem is the let down. When starting nursing school I kept being told, "there's a huge nursing shortage, recriuters will be beating down your door, graduate nurses are starting at 26$ and hour...... etc."
Well, I've sent out six resumes, which were done with the help of a professional career counselor, and not gotte one reply. My dream job is not happening (working in pedi). And then there's the whole scheduling thing. All these people who were telling me howgreat nursing is, and how much I wold be in demand forgot to tell me that out of school, it's basically impossible to get a decent shift. They want you to work rotating shifts, mostly nights, etc. I don't even know how that's going to be possible with two kids. I need a regular schedule so my kids can be in daycare!
I don't know, I guess I had some really high hopes, and I was pretty niave about the whole thing. I guess I should just chalk it up to a learning experience.
Best of luck to you. It looks like what we're feeling is pretty common. You'll get through it. Just think, you got through nursing school!
I am so glad to see this thread and to read that I'm not alone. I graduated and got pinned on 5/19 and the days leading up to graduation until now I have been very sad, depressed, teary.
It's like my fellow students and I all came together 3 years ago as complete strangers and we have been through so very much together; we've lost classmates, we've endured lectures, clinicals, and hard hard work as you all know. Now it's complete change. I complained a lot about school but I know that I'll miss it.
Thanks so much for posting such great advice. My next step is preparing for the boards but it's encouraging to know that I'm not alone (I thought it was me with some weird feelings).
I am sure your unit will have new grads coming in at the same time. Believe me, everyone is uncertain and stressed. You will bond with these new friends probablly just as closely as you bonded with your classmates, because you are all under the same stress and circumstance. I had only one new grad that started with me in the PICU. We became inseperable. We understood what each one was going through, and are still good friends today. ( Even though we have moved onto different units and hospitals) Good luck and think of it as a new adventure and a new way to make MORE friends!
But right now, I'm kind of down and sad, I'm really going to miss my classmates, even though I didnt get to know most of them personally, deep down, we were all in it together. i've met new people, made some friends, and acquaintances. and i will hold those memories dearly. 
rn/writer, RN
9 Articles; 4,168 Posts
Here are some reasons why you might feel low after finishing nursing school.
That brings me to a few ideas for how to ease the transition.
I hope this helps a little with the disorientation and anxiety that come from leaving nursing school behind. Before you know it, this transition time will pass and you'll be caught up in the excitement of your new life.
Congratulations to each and every one of you. Job well done!