This site is discouraging me from nursing...

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I am going into my second semester of nursings school in two weeks. My anxiety level is high with all the new things that are going to be thrown at me and since I can't work much/have student loans I am beyond broke (adding to my extreme anxiety).

I often come to this site to find encouragement and remind myself why I am going into nursing but I have found this to be even more discouraging. It seems that almost all the nurses that post on this forum talk about how horrible it is to be a nurse. It is making me feel like all the stress and anxiety isn't going to pay off and that becoming an RN is worse than the hells of nursing school. This site is seriously making me doubt my career choice. Is nursing really that horrible?

Research shows that people who feel they have something to complain about tell their stories 25 times. People who have good experiences tell them, on average, five times. That means that the complainers, Nancy Negatives, and whiners are five times as loud and take up five times the bandwidth of the people who are content, but that doesn't mean you need to devote five times as much attention to them. Skip them. I know how seductive they can be; they draw you right in to that old "ain't it awful/poor me" thang, but that's their problem. You do NOT have to make it yours.

Somebody just started a thread for positives. I'd like to see more. There are a lot of us who love what we do and are happy to be doing it. You can grow up to be ... us. Please do.

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Specializes in CMSRN.

There are times I definitely avoid some threads. Sometimes it seems like people want to jump on someone struggling like a pack of hyenas. I would rather lift someone up and help with encouragement then beat them down for the mistakes they have made. Obviously you can't say "oh it's fine that you messed up completely in that task" but you can say "what do you feel you have learned from your mistake". I know that's not always possible but I think if more people thought about things like that before posting, we would see a lot more positive things said.

So to be positive - I start my last semester of my ASN program on Tuesday and I am excited!! Yes, nursing school is difficult and frustrating (and has made me cry more than once!) but I know it will all be worth it when I am pinned and get my diploma and pass my NCLEX. Good luck!! :-)

This site does get me down sometimes, there is a lot of negativity. But as a previous post pointed out, negativity is usually much louder than the positive. I end up avoiding this site a lot, becuase I know it's just going to scare me and bring me down. But it is nice to know that there are some people out there who are sharing the struggles I have.

For everytime I get discouraged, I get back to class and realize how much I love what I'm doing, and knowing that I'm where I'm meant to be. Even after reading horror stories, not doing stellar on a test, or having a clinical from hell, at the end of the day, I know I would happily do it over again.

Like others said, many come onto this site to seek advice, vent, or become less discouraged. They can't necessarily go to their families or close friends who aren't familiar with nursing practices or nursing school. Really though, there are many positives about nursing school... the most obvious being you get to help people (and that is just the beginning!). I avoid certain threads too and recommend that you do the same so that you are not brought down. HTH

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