I'm 36, starting second semester. My friend visited my from New York this weeks, he is a Nurse Anethetist, god, and does he have money. And he is 3 years younger than me. I just feel like I have done nothing with my life. Most men my age have houses, nice cars, trips, nice things. I'm barely paying my bills. I just waited too long waiting on fire dept to happen, and maybe spent too much time dancing on the disco box shoving anything white and powder like up my nose, and not, I'm here with nothing to show for it. Its mainly the age thing that bothers me.
I feel the same way and I am 24. A girl who is 21 will be entering RN school and I am so jealous she is going to be a nurse before I am, and she's 3 years younger.
Anyway, don't let this get you down. My parents are very hard on me, they think by my age I should have a nice house, nice car, good job like they did. But I don't. I'm going to prove them wrong once I get accepted and graduate from RN school
And when you finally do graduate, no one has to know about your past, no one has to know that you started school later in life.
I'm also 36 and just finished my first 2 years of the BSN program and start in 3 weeks the nursing portion. I don't think we're too old by any means. I think we're just better! I think this means more to us because we know how much time we've lost and really how much time we have left. I think we are more dedicated and more focused as well. As they say of wine it gets better as it ages, well hey, same goes for us right?
your are never too old to follow your passion and your dreams. you are on your way to starting a nice career and hopefully will be successful in making a good income.
Oh stop...I'm 51 and doing CNA work while I get my nursing degree. You're never too old. We all spent way too much time partying, jeeze, I grew up in the 70's. I hear ya. Just don't bother looking back, look forward and work hard, you'll get where you want to be soon enough. You had your fun and don't regret it, just say ok now it's time to get my butt in gear and grow up. You'll have your car and your house and all that, just a little later than your friends.
I am 36 and will begin NS in a few weeks. Let go of the ego and realize that material things pass away, as everything does. Focus on the "being"-living. Be present in each moment-we only ever experience the present. No looking back, no fear of the future. Think positive thoughts and write positive affirmations that speak as if you already have all that you want-and believe it.:heartbeat:nurse::heartbeat
Wowzer...MedicJohn, you are only as old as you feel.
I'm 26 with a previous bachelor's degree and almost $39,000 in debt from that degree along with pre-req's I decided to take at a 4 yr school in order to be accepted into their Accelerated BSN program...Basically my life as well as almost every second degree student's life is full of shoulda coulda woulda's but we have to forget the past and look forward to the future.
I've struggled along the way, believe me! Not being able to find a job in my field after graduating 4 years ago and still having people find out I have a bachelor's degree and working as a CNA as a living...Asking why don't you do this, why don't you do that...Why are you working as a CNA??? Then on top of all of that being set back about 2 years because I was stuck on getting my BSN instead of an ADN and had my eye set on ONLY one school! Unfortunately I wasn't accepted into that program. But I will be started nursing school at a local CC Aug 17th...super excited.
I'm sure you would love to pay your bills on time as do most of us. But I don't know the exact statistic but I'm sure it's well over 50% of Americans who have "bad" credit! So my whole philosophy is they'll get paid, when they get paid....Darn credit card companies that target college students and HS graduates!!!
Sometimes bad company can make you feel worse about yourself. I'd suggest hanging around more positive people...Like say your classmates. I find it hard to believe that with so many people going back to school for nursing that you're the only person in your class who is your age.
I went to LPN school when I was 42. I have one more semester left of RN school and I will be 47 at that time. Believe me, life has just started for you. :)
Life is full of new starts. Even if you had gone to college at 20 and bought the house, etc., you may still find yourself starting over because of divorce, job loss, etc. That is life.
You have a brain, can move and life is full of possibilities at any age. Take advantage of what you do have and GO FOR IT!!!
I must say that I felt the same way you felt a few months ago. I'm a second degree student who's strugling to make it through nursing school while I see all my established friends around me accomplishing great things. My first degree was in Biology and a minor in math and I graduated in 2007 right as the recession was taking place.
Since then I wasn't able to find any stable employment until I had an epiphany that nursing was my future. I felt kind of bad b/c the current job that I work now, minimized me to part-time and I have to work for pay that barely covers my bills. If it wasn't for family helping me I'd be out in the streets.
Alot of my other friends have families, gotten married, gotten their master's degrees or gone to medical school and are doing a whole lot better in financially and socially than I am. My main inspiration is that in Spring 2011 I'll have my BSN and be on my way to a new career at the age of 26 and my current GPA of 3.94
Confucious (pardon my spelling if thats not right! LOL:chuckle) once said that the stable building of success is built on the foundations of failures which have transpired into learning experiences to make it stronger. I feel that your and my overall life downfalls have will make us wonderful nurses and we will have so much to offer to those who need us because we know what its like to struggle. Keep your head up!! Meditate, pray, concentrate on happy thoughts or just plain have fun! Don't worry you'll get there before you know it!!!:wink2:
From one Struggling student to another!!!:heartbeat
Well, I don't know about you, Medicjohn, but I could not have done this when I was 18, or 22, even. A culmination of life events and experiences has brought me to the doorstep of NS. I LIVED...maybe not as much partying as you, but some. Learned lots of new things. Worked crappy jobs. Grew up some. Then I gave birth to premature twins that spent 5 weeks in neonatal ICU. It changed me forever, and not just in the way that becoming a parent does. I could not stop thinking about the NICU, and a way to be around the preemies. I found myself thinking about nursing school, and realized that I am old enough and mature enough NOW. Now I can handle the poop, vomit, urine, blood. Now the amount of time I have to spend studying doesn't faze me. Now it's not going to bother me if I can't see my friends and only see my boyfriend once a week. Now I have the time management thing down and never procrastinate. I didn't have the balls (so to speak!) for NS then, but I do now, and I feel that being older and having learned alot over the years, I just may have a little something more to give. I think you do too.
Yeah, it sucks to be 35 and living with your mom again. It sucks that I've never had a job that paid a living wage even more, though. Especially with kids. I wish I had done it all earlier, but I wouldn't have touched nursing with a ten-foot pole at that time. I had to come into it in my own time, like all of us older students. Hope this helps just a little, even...
Honestly, I think I worried more about age when I was your age than I do now! I'm 51 and recently started the LVN program. However, 31 years ago I quit the RN program I was in after 14 months of brutal hard work and effort, to go get married and move to another state. Yes, we all make some foolish choices when we are young and you know what? It's OK! I am so proud of myself right now, never thought I could be this proud of going to LVN school when I once was in RN, but I am. The program is very tough and I am doing well. A few days ago I ran across that poem "The Man In the Glass." You may know it, it ends with "You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years, and get pats on the back as you pass; But your final reward will be heartache and tears if you've cheated the man in the glass." It's the first time I have ever read that poem and did not feel the least bit bad about myself! Hooray for LVN school at 51! So we are where we are exactly when we are supposed to be! I may not have been an RN all these years but I have other things I would have missed out on if I had gone that route back then, and I'm sure you can say the same. On another note, I was very depressed just before I turned 40 and my mom told me this: The 40's were the best years of her life and the 50's were even better! You know what? The same has been true for me! So enjoy the ride, young man! And be proud of yourself because you deserve it.
I think we all go through a time in our lives where we are consumed with the accomplishments of others vs what we perceive as our own failures. I understand exactly how you feel. I am 31. I am in school a second time. I already have a bachelor's and have yet to hold a job that has anything to do with my earned degree. Not one single job I was able to land even required a 4 year degree. However, that did not take away the fact that I was psying student loans. I often get sad when I realize I live at home with my mom and dad and most of my friends are stay at home moms. In order to go to nursing school I moved back to the state I grew up in Mississippi from Florida where I had an apartment on the bay in Tampa and a great paying outside sales job. Since I started NS I have lost my long term boyfriend who I loved very much and I am living with my mom and dad. Like I said all my friends around me are getting engaged, married and having babies. They live in big, nice houses and have loving husbands and throw dinner parties and I sit at home and study. Some are jealous because they think I am living this exciting single girl's life, but they have no idea. I study, study, study and woyuld love to have a boyfriend or at least go on a darn date, but the reality is...I live at home with mom and dad (not good for dating) and I never go out (won't meet anyone sitting at home). So, in short...I feel ya!
Ms. Nurse Assistant, LPN
452 Posts
I feel the same way and I am 24. A girl who is 21 will be entering RN school and I am so jealous she is going to be a nurse before I am, and she's 3 years younger.
Anyway, don't let this get you down. My parents are very hard on me, they think by my age I should have a nice house, nice car, good job like they did. But I don't. I'm going to prove them wrong once I get accepted and graduate from RN school
And when you finally do graduate, no one has to know about your past, no one has to know that you started school later in life.