Nursing Career Paths by Personality and Stress

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Hello everyone I'm new to the boards here so go easy if I ask any stupid questions

(A question is still an interest in learning no matter how stupid though huh?)

Anyway, I am 20 years old and just starting out in college after a 2 year hiatus to work and contemplate life a bit. After juggling many different career paths I stumbled upon nursing and decided to delve a bit deeper into it. I like the fact that there are so many different paths to go on which is good for me because I'm a little bit on the indecisive side as of right now and at least if I go for nursing I know that I can end up somewhere that I will like no matter what and I enjoy the thought of being a nurse, learning more biology (my favorite subject!) and most of all taking care of others (although I know that I need to "shadow" nurses and/or volunteer at a hospital to see if I REALLY like it) I don't have a problem dealing with the physical aspects of nursing and by that I mean dealing with bodily fluids, needles, gushing blood etc.

The problem is, I'm just beginning to learn how to deal with stress, lack of motivation and fatigue. Sorry to get too personal but I've been through a bit of a bout of depression the last few years. I would like to turn that around because it seems to me that every well paying (I'm not in it for just the money but I would like to be able to survive and support myself) job seems to have high stress factors so I will need to get over it no matter where I go in life.

My questions are...

1. What nursing career path(s) will go well with a person that loves to make sure that everything is in it's place, is overly organized, does what she is told, pays attention to detail when working on something, over-analytical and generally an overall bright student?

2. Is there anyone out there that has been in the same boat with stress/depression and wanting to get into the nursing field?

a. If so how did you cope with it/make it easier on yourself/get over it? (Or even how do you deal with stress in general everyday life)

b. Would you suggest counseling? (I don't want to be prescribed medication because I don't want to just "float" through life not learning a valueable lesson in dealing with stress. I apologize in advance to anyone that does see the benefit of medication but we just have different opinions right?)

3. Two nursing career paths that I have tried to look into well was a CRNA and a Nurse Practicioner. If there is any further information you think I should know about these fields from what I have stated above please let me know.

Thank you in advance to anyone that responds to this and takes the time out of their day to help me out.

-Maria

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Maria, I am also new at this. I dont know about you, but I work full time, and I'm a full time nursing student. I TOTALLY understand the stress factor. The only thing that really keeps me motivated is looking at the bigger picture, knowing that I'll graduate soon and will be able to provide for myself and my family. I am a CNA right now so, I work beside nurses all day, they motivated me to go to school. The job might be stressful, and you don't always get to see the happy ending like on TV, but you go home every night knowing you made a difference in someones life today. Its a really good feeling!

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