My heart is not in nursing school...

[mariemonae92]

I am currently a student in an Accelerated BSN program. I have just completed my first semester (summer session) of nursing school, so I have completed all of the basics. Before starting the program and throughout my time in the program, I felt like my heart was not in nursing anymore. I am having second thoughts about choosing a career in nursing. Though I did pretty well in my classes, I just did not have the motivation that I needed and it has been hard for me to focus on nursing. The program has stressed me out already, and sometimes I wonder if nursing is really for me or if I'm supposed to be doing something else. I know that the program is very intense. I knew that coming in. This past month has been really overwhelming and stressful, though. I received my bachelor's degree in psychology last spring, and before deciding to enter nursing school, I had plans to enter dental school. I really like science the hands-on aspect of the career. However, I didn't do that well in two of my prerequisites, and not being knowledgeable about post-baccalaureate programs at the time, decided to start researching second careers in healthcare. I knew that I wanted to work in healthcare, and I already had a lot of the prerequisite for nursing school, so I looked into it. I thought that I would be interested in becoming a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner because I liked psychology and I thought that I could use my knowledge in that career. Then I got interested in nurse anesthesia and dermatology nursing. However, I feel like I lost interest in nursing during my first semester. I'm just not sure if it fits my personality. I'm an introvert, and it seems like nursing is a very interactive career, and though I like interaction sometimes and don't want to work in complete isolation all the time, feeling drained just makes me feel more stressed out. I'm not sure if this is a normal feeling for new nursing students or my heart telling me that I am supposed to be doing something else. Sometimes I feel like I should have just stuck with dentistry which is what I originally wanted to do. I have also become more interested in cosmetic science, it would probably be more difficult for me to transition into something like that. I had a talk with one of my instructor, and she convinced me to stay in the program, but for some reason I can't help but wonder if I'm making the right decision by staying. Fall semester starts in a little less than two weeks and clinicals will begin then, but I'm not sure what I should do. I think if I would have done more shadowing or volunteering before deciding on nursing, I would have known what I was getting myself into.