1a.m. and about to have a nervous breakdown

As a prenursing student, if you decide to change you mind, you have plenty of time. You also have time to explore the feild of nursing itself. Try getting your CNA and using it in the working world, or even volunteer at a nursing home or hospital. I'm still prenursing adn working as a CNA and it can be very stressfull emotionally and physically, but it's also very rewarding.

You just have to take everything one step at a time. If you try to smush the entire picture together. It gets hard.

Just stay focused on this semester and the classes your taking. The bigger picture of becoming a nurse is a goal, but not your main one right now.

Much good luck to you!

Volunteer at your nearest Hospital. You never know, you might be interested in something else that sounds intriguing to you.

Interview Nurses there. Ask them how they got into nursing and do they like it?

No need to be stressed out (you are too young). Try your best to look at the task at hand and do your best. People make a mistake of trying too many things at once. Try not to do that. Try to focus on the classes you have and strive for the best grade you can get ( "A" ) hehe.

I hope this helps.

Life is a series of ups and downs...turns and sometimes obstacles. You can't anticipate every one of them so don't kill yourself trying.

Go day by day and eventually your calling will come into the light.

Hugs for you. :icon_hug:

Z

Fear of the unknown can be overwhelming.

Yes, nursing and nursing school is indeed tough and stressful and not for the faint of heart. Nursing is something you really have to want to do.

I would say right now, since your crying and full of anxiety, to keep things in perspective on focus on today. Look at how much your missing out of the present moment by crying about something in the future. Put one foot in front of the other and enjoy the day and let tomorrow take care of itself. You're not in a good state to be making decisions about your future. Clear your head a bit and dry your eyes and make it a good day.

[color=#00bfff]welcome to the great family and enjoy your staty. best of wishes to you. sorry, to hear about the rough time.

Hi- I'm sorry that you are having such a rough time. I am finishing up my pre nursing requirements and starting clinicals in January. I have heard from other students that it is tough- but if you want it you should go for it! It is definitely doable. As far as having a family later- it's a great career! There are so many options in nursing. YOu dont have to work full time! Many of us already have families (including myself) and one of the many reasons that I settled on nursing is that there are so many options for where you work annd how many hours you want to work! Good Luck!

If you have a chance, I would suggest you call around to some local hospitals, or even contact your nursing department at school and see if you can set up an appointment to "shadow" a nurse for a day. I have a relative who works at the Vanderbilt University Hospital and she arranged it for me on a med/surg floor. I was a fantastic experience. I got to ask a lot of questions about the job, I was able to talk to some nursing students who were just starting out there and actually see what an entire day as a nurse is like from taking the report at the start of a shift, assessments, admin of meds, discharging patients, etc.

I drive my husband (and myself) crazy worrying about things that I really have no control of or by trying to plan every aspect of my life down to the most minute detail. You have plenty of time to decide what you want to do, and you never know what life will dish out for you. Take things one day at a time, you'll be fine.

Colleen,

Take a deep breath, and try to relax. Try not to look too far into the future, or you will make yourself crazy!! Having concerns about your future & your choices means that you are probably going to take school and a future career seriously - which I think is half the battle.....

As far as having a family some day, I'm going into nursing rather than returning to a career in engineering because I want the flexibility to be home when my kids are home. I'll be able to work when they are at school, or nights & weekends when my husband is home with them.

You never know where life will lead. I truly believe there is a plan for everyone, and we just need to be open to it. I began college as a pre-med student, and ended up with a degree in engineering. During my career, I met my wonderful husband who is also an engineer. After having two little girls, I'm following my heart and going into nursing. I can look at engineering as a poor career choice, but I doubt I'd have ever met my husband if I hadn't taken that "wrong" turn!!

Best wishes to you,

Beth

Go to you advisor. I know at my school they have tests that you can take, they ask you all kinds of questions, personal, questions regarding your strengths and weaknesses in different areas such as math, science, english, ect, other questions like how many hours do you want to work, if you like to have an indoor or out door setting, if you like working with people or alone, if you like technical concepts, even if you like working on your car....you get the idea, but it gives you a result of career area's you would be best at in and enjoy most at the same time. I do not remember the name of the test our college has but it helped confirm for me that nursing is the best place for me and even what I could use as a minor if I needed a back up.

Thank you sooo much everybody. I appreciate the advice! I think I will look into volunteering.

I am glad to hear the tears have subsided. I had been in college for two and a half years before I decided what I wanted to do with my life. I think you have recieved wonderful advice from these postings. My advice: Everytime I get too bogged down by looking in the future I try to focus on the tasks in the present. I also talk to some of the wonderful ppl I have met on this site! They tend to put things in perspective for me! So try talking to a friend or cruise this site for moral support when you feel like it is getting to be too much for you. I also agree with the other posters-- try to get some volunteer experiences. I loved volunteering at my local hospital. Best wishes- let me know if you need to talk about anything else!

:) Smile!

Here's hoping this is being posted in the right area....

First things first, I'm new, so "Hi" to everyone out there...

Now then, I will be a freshman this fall and am in pre-nursing. Right now I am just crying my eyes out because I don't know what to expect. Are all areas of nursing as stressful as I've heard? I don't expect it to be easy sure, but I am a nervous wreck. I'm not the type of person who can "wing it" and hope for the best. I have to choose my career and NOW. Do you have time for kids? I want a family one day, so I don't want to be working all of the time. I feel like I've researched this a thousand times and still don't know anything about the job, you know what I mean? I'm worried a little about the schooling too, is it survivable, lol. Can you actually sleep, or are you up all of the time studying? Well, I guess I'm done, the crying has stopped but my anxiety hasn't. Any advice would be appreciated or maybe just a hug Thanks again...

*Colleen*

Don't panic, it will be ok. :) We all go through ups and downs like this - choosing a career path is very scary! I have been in college full time for a year and just recently realized I was going into the wrong thing for me all together (LOL!) - I switched to pre-nursing and will be starting that this fall (what I have really wanted to do all along). The good thing about pre-nursing is that it's a lot of pre-reqs that work for many degrees, so you can ease into the idea of nursing and you always reserve the right to change your mind (I did and it's going to be just fine ). Take the advice of the previous posters, talk to nurses or hospital staff if you can, and mostly just don't worry.

I start feeling overwhelmed about nursing school all the time - especially since I have a husband, a 3 yr. old and a 3 month old - but I just keep reminding myself that it's going to be worth it in the end and that works for me. One of my dearest friends is an LPN who is going to school to become an RN, she is a single mom with a 3 1/2 yr. old daughter and she does just fine. She really loves nursing because she gets to work 12 hr. shifts and that means more days off in a row to spend with her daughter (yes, poor thing holds a full-time job too). In fact, she has decided she wanted a mini vacation, so she is grouping 2 of her 12 week shifts together and then taking off something like 9 days in a row just to be with her little girl. It is do-able and very rewarding. And - you don't have to decide right now, start working on pre-reqs and you might find a different area that intrigues you - don't beat yourself up if you do, a typical college student changes majors at least 3 times before they graduate (I forget where that statistic is from - something in my pro-college for welfare recipients trainings). However, if you decide to stick to nursing - yeay! Come join in the fun, we'll all be here struggling away right along with you. :chuckle