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Discussion

Indecisive and doubtful at the wrong time

Hello! Sorry if I sound stupid and ridiculous. I need guidance on my career decision.

I'm beginning the fall semester as a pre-nursing student. I just graduated high school but I've been hellbent on going into healthcare for years, I have two years of experience in volunteer EMS and my mom was an x-ray tech. All summer I've been studying for anatomy and physiology just to be prepared and I'm really driven with my goals. Now that college is a month away, I've been getting cold feet. Is this normal considering the stress of getting my classes and books paid for and other major life stresses and changes + lots of personal issues I've been encountering? Now I read all these things online about people hating being a nurse and whatnot and I'm scared about what I'm getting myself into, A MONTH AWAY FROM GETTING STARTED.

I'm beginning to lose the confidence I once had in myself, maybe because I'm getting closer to actually starting. I'm beginning to worry that I will be incompetent or fail despite studying and making a good plan on where I'm going for my BSN, the classes, ect.

Along with stress and doubt, it took me forever to pick nursing. I always was stuck between nursing and occupational therapy when deciding on what I wanna do after high school and I ended up picking nursing. Now there's a ringing in the back of my head telling me I would be better off in OT. I already am registered for my pre-nursing classes so ***, why is this happening now?

I'm thinking about just going for the BSN anyways. If I get my BSN, I can always apply to an MOT program as long as I have good grades and change my career, right? Would getting my BSN anyway be a good idea? Because I don't think I would dislike being a nurse, but I'm starting to think I'd like OT better. I'm not really sure though, so why not start with nursing if I need a bachelors degree for OT anyway?

Sorry, this last paragraph is going to sound like a therapy session so you guys don't have to read this. Idk if this is a sign that OT might really be my calling or if my stress is messing with me. I have a lot going on in my life. I can't find a better job to pay my bills (my parents are beginning to cut me off from paying for my bills), I have to go to court and fight my emotionally abusive ex for criminal mischief in a couple weeks and there's more. So I think the stress is piling on and everything feels like a headache. I'm hoping this doesn't become a detriment on my studying.

Have any of you guys ever experienced doubt and indecisiveness before even getting into the nursing program? I feel ridiculous.

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    Breathe. You'll do great. I'm nervous and anxious as hell, too. I think we all are right before school starts. :)

    If you decide to change your mind later, that's fine! You are not eternally bound to nursing if you decide it isn't for you. :)

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    Don't feel ridiculous, it sounds like what you're experiencing is normal. I thought I was sure about my major when I went in but a few months later, while in my major, I decided I wanted to go into nursing. Nursing still isn't going to be my major right now but I'm pretty set on going to school for nursing once I'm done with my current major. You may change your mind multiple times, but you still have GECs and pre reqs to take so don't feel rushed or stressed about it. Keep researching about it, weigh other ideas out, try volunteering at a hospital or getting a job in the environment. Coming to this forum will give you opinions and ideas from others, but also talk to advisors in different colleges to understand different majors better.

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    I think that you should just try it out! Worse case scenario, you don't like it,

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    Cold feet are completely normal on the brink of huge life changes. Absolutely everything familiar to you is about to change, and if you didn't have some anxiety about that, you'd be insane. Breathe.

    The first year or two will be taken up with gen ed and nursing prerequisite classes anyway, and most of those are exactly the same ones you'd take for an OT degree. You can change your mind later, or decide to stick with nursing, but you don't have to make that decision right this second.

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