Why is it easy to be honest with complete strangers?
I am 30 years old male, and I was just accepted into a nursing program a year ago. I was very excited, but I allowed people to talk me out of the program. I was told that I was to old, that I had a weak stomach, that they don't see me as a nurse, and it would be hard becoming a nurse because I am a male. I thought they were right, but a year later I find myself regretting not starting the program.
I completed the Navy, so the navy would pay my rent, tuition, and my book fees. So money is not the issue.
I don't like my current job. I have been put on probation at my job, and I feel like it's a blessing in disguise. And I have done so many desk jobs and don't like it. I work at a school doing filing, grades, and busy work. The job does not satisfy me. Come to think of it, I don't like desk jobs, I have way to much energy, and I love being social. I care about my fellow man. My job's pay is alright, but the health insurance is horrible, i do as many hours as i would a nurse, and I come home feeling like why am i doing this job. I can't support my wife, I don't feel like my work as any meaning to me, and it's dull. If I became a nurse, I could offer her more, and most importantly the job could give me value.
My wife's main concern is what if I don't like nursing. My question to her is what if it is what i been looking for all this time!!!!
30! You're a kid....Oy Vey! I should be so lucky! Grin! LOLOLOLOLOL! I'm 50! I'm in my last year. Now, my situation was different. I loved my job and I was successful, but oops, hello Wall Street and a tanking economy...Try telling your wife that 1.) You're going back to school. 2.) You want to be a nurse. 3.) You wanted to be a nurse when you were kid...but back "when dinosaurs ruled the earth," men were definitely NOT supposed to be nurses...especially "real men"! 4.) It will cost XXXX amount of cost from the 401K! 5.) Pick her up off the floor and duck when she wakes up! "at THAT age!!!"...LOL! First was "Are you nuts?!" "Secondly, was the 'Are you gay' - no stereotype there, huh? thanks, hon. (yes, seriously...more than a bit taken back by that one...I mean, um after x amount years of marriage and working 'equipment' with the opposite sex, um, definitely a tense night that one! Grin!)
Now, my wife asked me some of the same questions that your SO did. You know what? They're fair questions. It's expensive and requires a lot of commitment. When I say "new level of study," I mean WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF STUDY! Intense. Not hard, just intense. A lot of reading. And if you don't learn clinical manifestations and treatments, etc. you will be dead! My one professor told me - when I had to repeat a course - Nursing has to own you till you graduate. She's right. I point that out to you because you WILL do a lot of studying. You have to. And each step is harder than the last one. It's hard and intense because it has to be. It should be. People's lives are at stake...Passing meds with a score of 80 or below....not cool...passing meds with a 100 - cool. And you'll spend a lot of time and countless tests learning to learn how to critical think...and you know what, it's hard till you start to learn....and you'll do tons of N-Clex questions...and fail a ton of the practice ones....(Hello, Med Surge! LOL!) So, when she asks you those questions, it's not unwarranted. Talk to real nurses and spend some type. It gives you a realistic picture, because nothing - and I mean nothing - is ever all "love and kisses." Nothing. Including nursing. But, if you feel drawn to help people. To want to work those that need help - even those that are pains in the rears....even those that when you smile and ask for something as simple as vitals, take a swing at you and cuss you out...even those that do nothing but scream when you try to feed them in clinical because, they're Alzheimer's patient's and they don't know/can't get any better...if you can know that you'll work - just like any other job - with good people and not so good people...many probably managers....maybe, maybe not hit a glass ceiling because you're a man - not unwarranted if you considered how ****-poor men have treated women in the workplace in the reverse situations....if you still have that compassion and want to be something special - and nurses ARE something special - then, you need to do what you want. Payday comes once or twice a week...but everyday we have to go to work...so it better be something you like, preferable love.
Just be honest with yourself. And be realistic. I love nursing. It's hard. I have to study my little saggy behind off. And it DOES have some consequences. Had a major fight with my wife/love of my life/best friend because we were at a wedding...I barely had time to do the events. Every other minute, I had to study - two tests - Med Surge with Electrolytes and MicroBiology....she was not happy. You know? I don't blamer her. That could be part of the price. I use the word could, because every situation is different. But I can't think of anything else I'd rather do. Even at this age. It really is something special. I've met some instructors who have changed my life for the better. And I've met some students who just want 'extra credit' to pass versus learning how to critical think better....interested in the fact that they might kill someone because they don't the s/s and treatments...no...but interested in a title and promise of bucks, yes.But overall - and I have the advantage of age and perspective with reality...I think it's one of the best and most rewarding possibilities of anything. But, hey, what do I know...LOL!
Please, please follow your heart. There are people who will give you a hard time because you want to be a nurse and will say it's too hard, you're too old, but DON'T listen! There are so many environments a nurse (male & female) can work. If you don't like bedside, you can work in a clinic. You don't like clinic, you can work in surgery, you don't like blood, you can work Psych...etc...Just think about it like this-you won't know unless you give it a shot. And as for age-total LIE. I started nursing school at 33-graduated at 35 and at 38 am going to start my BSN. 3 years from now you will still be 3 years older. You can be a nurse at 33 or just wish you were. Think about it and follow your dream! Best of luck to you. We need men in the field!!
You know that nagging feeling that makes you regret that you didn't start nursing school instead of listening to others, when something stays with me like that I consider it a part of my "gut instinct" and listen to it....maybe it's time to listen to yourself and not to the others around you...good luck!:)
It's never too late...well, 'til you're six feet under. Follow your passion, you'll be a happier person. Mind you nursing school is hard to get into and hell when there.
I'm 53 and in the top 10% of my class with two semesters to go. Oh yea, I also work 36 hours/week as an ER tech!...you're the only one that can say if you have the "right stuff" as a nurse. Age is more than a chronicle measure. I believe Bono just turned 50.
Also, there are hundreds of options when you become an RN including sales/management/accounting, etc. Keep in mind life is a journey, not a destination.
Lastly, if your support network is not supporting you (super negative), there may be a need to evaluate more than a career/life move. I was there and it was not pretty. Now in another close, supporting relationship.
I had a friend that discouraged my decision alot to telling me i had a weak stomach. They cant determine your destiny. I am in the program now and she at home. I am happy and she is depressed. Handle your business. You wont we regret it, ppl are wishing to be accepted into a nursing program. Please re-apply
Specializes in pre-nursing student now (long ago CNA).
No, you're not too old! I am 55 and starting pre-nursing classes this fall! It is my 5th "career" after starting out as a CNA, high school teacher, Naval officer, medical social worker. It's something I've wanted for a long time and now I have the guts to pursue it! Wish I had not waited so long, but "timing is everything" as they say!
You have youth and time on your side and a zillions things you can do with an RN. If it's YOUR dream, go for it!
I also agree that getting a CNA certificate/training will give you real insight as to some of the things that are involved. I have worked with enough nurses in health care to know that this is not the whole of it, however. But it's a great start!
I went through LPN school when I was in my mid twenties, and back to college when I was 30. I have not regreted it one bit. I was a mechanic attending vocational school during the 70's, went in the Army, mastered Sniper School, and many other specialties. I have worked law enforcement, ran my own busines, nothing has made me leave the Nursing field. I now have a corporate job, managing 25+ hospitals' Emergency Departments documentation systems. and I am nearing retirement, which I can truthfully say, if I had not been a nurse and taken the career path I have, I would never be able to retire, with any money, if I had kept one of my other jobs. Nursing is so diverse, you can always find something you will like, I just chose the ED.
You are never too old to learn! I did a second degree BSN program and graduated when I was 47 - went straight to the ED and love it. There are so many ways to use your RN - no matter what your age, interest or weaknesses. Go for it!
ranger1486
1 Post
Hey,go with your gut.I am retired military,just finished my RN at 48. Male,Airborne,Insensitive. LOL!!