.......until the search for a new username begins and I couldn't be more proud, ecstatic, or overwhelmed with such a sense of accomplishment! Life has dealt me MANY blows (including a divorce and the death of a grandparent) since I began my transition from LPN to RN in late 2009. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, boy was I proven wrong...right when I began the transition from ASN to BSN! But I finally got up, spit the dirt out of my mouth:***:, dusted off my knee caps, washed my face, put a few band aids here and there:blackeye:, and pressed on. I was even devastated yet again after this point when I failed my first-ever nursing exam on August 7th, 2013:arghh:. Yep, I remember the day just like it was (to me it is) a historical event:(. This pursuit of higher education had me wearing the face of a torn and worn individua:blackeye:l.
Once I stopped blaming everybody else for that fiasco (I mean after all, with 28 years of nursing, it couldn't have possibly been my fault, right:down:?), I enrolled in 4 courses in one semester, bound and determined to hurry up and exit this college since they, too, were on the list of people at fault for my failure...imagine that. Then in January 2014, my dad (the healthiest individual I had ever seen in my life) had a heart attack, followed by open-heart surgery. In the end, he had and continues to have an amazing recovery. But during that week, AGAIN, I was broken and devastated! I felt like yelling ENOUGH ALREADY! WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT OUT OF MY HIDE:cry:?!!
Being the resilient (or na'ive) person that I am in not realizing that I should just give up on this degree, I didn't 'feel' that it was time to throw in the towel just yet and as such, I kept going:bookworm: and took it one day at a time, literally. Each day that my feet hit the floor, my first thoughts were "I can take it". At the end of the day, my thoughts were "I didn't withdraw from college today....thank you". It was just that serious a struggle for me, but I survived! Somewhere in the Breakroom on this site is my thread entitled "When do I get a chance to cry" that details even more hurdles throughout my college experience. What a ride this is:confused:!
Anyway, back on course! Remarkably, taking four courses had a profound effect on my professional career. Since my spare time was seemingly always spent in search of evidenced-based information for this paper or that project, these resources became my topic of conversation at work. It was a drive-it-home key factor with some of my colleagues and many patient-teaching opportunities. There are those that feel that the BSN is a waste of time and that the majority of time is simply spent writing papers and participation in discussions. But the learning comes from paying attention to the content of those written papers instead of just throwing together 4-8 pages of 'anything' for the sole purpose of a grade.
Set your goals and make it happen! It is soooo worth it! I don't know what tomorrow holds, but today, this is my face:D:D! Seven weeks to go!!
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