I need advice on building confidence.

LAM2010, BSN · Mar 15, 2010

- Remind yourself constantly why you decided to be a nurse

- Find an area you have a lot of interest in and try to get experiences there to remind yourself of where you can be working someday (e.g. -- I had a really really really bad day in my med-surg clinicals one day, and cried for hours after I got home, and thought I was going to quit that day. But the next day, we got to observe in an ambulatory surgery center, and it renewed me).

- You probably have other fellow students who feel the same way, they just aren't telling anyone

- Almost all nursing students feel or have felt at some point the way you do, and most who say they never did are lying

- When it comes to patients - if you're feeling a little nervous when caring for them, just remember that your focus is on the patient and not on yourself. That helped me early on. To put myself in that patient's shoes with this student nurse taking care of me - or even to think that your patient is someone's mom or grandma, and how would you take care of your own mom or grandma, with the knowledge you're gaining in class?

I am just brainstorming here. I know it's not easy, but I'm not lying at all when I say you are not the first or last nursing student to feel the way you are. And just as many get through.

lioness1977 · Mar 15, 2010

I understand what you are feeling, I am the only income for 2 kids and a disabled husband. I'm not the oldest in the class, but I'm close enough. I cannot tell you how to build confidence in yourself but I can say what I did. Read, record, listen, write, type. These are how I build my confidence, the more I know the better I feel. Only now it annoys my hubby cause all the slackers call me for their study sessions the night before the test.

Not that I go mind you, but it makes me feel good to help out those that try but just can't get it by reading only.

Good luck, hope it gets better.

CuriousMe · Mar 15, 2010

Hi everyone,
I am having a hard time remaining confident. I know that nursing school is a struggle and that the best of the best will feel beat down at times, but I just feel so inferior. There are so many young students who seem to just have the confidence there all the time in clinicals and class. I myself am usually not a person who has problems in this area, but lately everything is getting to me. I'm constantly comparing myself to others. I came from a low income family and will be the first one to graduate college. I don't really know where I'm going with this, I guess I just want to know how everyone has dealt with becoming more confident in themselves.

I'm definitely not a "young" college student. But I look at it differently than you I think. I have all the reason in the world to have more confidence than the young'ens. I have loads of life experience to draw upon.

The nursing skills are new, but the communication skills, politics and time management skills aren't.

You're your own worst enemy in this....no one can make you feel inferior....that's an internal thing. My Mamma had a great saying about comparing yourself to others...she'd tell me that I was comparing my insides to their outsides! You have no idea if they feel as confident as they look. So, it's pointless to compare yourself to anything besides what you did the last time.

Have you thought about what triggers you to feel inferior?

Aurora77 · Mar 15, 2010

Something that's worked for me is to think about a time/situation when I felt more confident, and embrace that feeling. I'm old enough (as I'm sure you are) to have had successes and areas of expertise, so I try to transfer that feeling to my class/clinical situation. It's the whole fake it 'til you make it thing. It really has seemed to help.