Wow...the intent of my post was to celebrate one small milestone in my journey with those who could relate or those who will be in the same situation soon. Chill. But since you brought it up, I can't help but respond:
I am fully aware of the current job market. I made the decision to give up a steady paycheck to do this for the next couple years, and know that I am not guaranteed a job at the end of the program. However, I have chosen to trust that God will get me through the next couple years (when I hardly have any money to pay my bills), and I am choosing to trust that He will also provide me with a great job when I graduate if that is His will.
This is one of the biggest risks I've ever taken with my life. Risks aren't always fun, but sometimes they're necessary. It would be a lot easier for me to stay in my current job as an Executive Assistant...I have great health benefits, a steady salary with a quarterly bonus, and have become a valuable part of this company over the last six years. But I'm also miserable, hate what I do, and long to do something with my life that will really make a difference. I am only 28 years old, am single, and have no children. It's a scary, unpredictable move for me to make, but I decided to take a huge risk and pursue something I've always wanted to do instead of playing it safe and being miserable for the rest of my life.
Like I said, this is scary and unpredictable. There are a million things that could go wrong. I have a 4.0 GPA in my prereqs, but I could still fail all of my nursing classes. I could start taking the classes and realize I don't really like nursing. I could get hit by a car/bus/airplane that falls out of the sky tonight and never make it to nursing school...now I'm being a little dramatic, but do you see where I'm going with this? We have no guarantee of ANYTHING in this world. We like to think we have control over our lives, but we don't. So why am I going to worry over things I can't control? All we can do is live our lives the best we can and hope that we figure out what our purpose is in this world. End rant.