Maintaining a romantic relationship in Nursing School

Nurses General Nursing

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I am 19 years old and will be starting my first year in the RN program. I am doing a 2 year associates program at the moment. My best friend/potential boyfriend is going to a University 3.5 hours away from me. How do you think I can juggle a relationship with him and still keep up a relationship with my family (whom I live with still). I also dont have a car yet and I dont have a license (im working on it). I heard people tell me not to date him because it will cause our relationship to suffer...

Can't tell you whether or not to date him, but I can tell you this: nursing school is going to take up A LOT, and I do mean A LOT of your waking hours. Students who LIVE with a spouse or significant other don't have time to do much other than nod and run out the door waving goodbye!

If your priority is romance, I assure you that nursing school will be a disaster for you. If your priority is nursing school, your romance *may* last, it may not. That's just reality.

At 19, you feel quite mature and ready to juggle it all. But to those of us a bit older *ahem*, the situation looks a little different.

Be available to your boyfriend/friend when it works out. Offer to set up times to talk on the phone or Skype or whatever during times that work for both of you. DO NOT--repeat--DO NOT take away time from studying or classes because you miss him, or he misses you. NOT gonna help anyone.

If it is meant to be, it will be. If not.....then there will be other romances in your future :)

I met, dated, married and still live 5 hours away from my husband. It's been 2 years, and I guarantee you the military is much more restrictive than any school I ever attended.

If you are both committed to each other, you can do it. The only thing I'd caution you about is your age. You're quite young and I know if I had married the man I was with when I was 19, my life would be much, much different in a tragic sort of way. Not saying that's your boyfriend, but keep in mind that you will change drastically over the next few years. College will help you become an adult. Make sure that's a process that's conducive to being with this person.

For this to work, he will need to be as motivated as you to call and visit. If you are the one doing all the planning, calling, and sacrificing of your time, you will quickly get burned out when school demands are added.

Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

This may sound callous, but you are nineteen. Now is the time to focus on yourself, your education and your career. At 19, I thought I had found "the one." We didn't last. I'm not saying that your relationship won't make it, but school and your future are your number one priority (or at least should be). If your boyfriend cannot understand that, then you need to cut him loose now.

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