What was the first thing to go?

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So the semester starts and you have to read 145 chapters a night for the 2,000 question tests your professors give every 3 days. You can no longer do it all, so what do you let go of first?

Sleep? Showers? Dishes? Date nights? Exercise? Sanity?

Specializes in Neuroscience.

Only my sanity has left me so far. I still have time to do other things like read or enjoy time out on the weekends, and even some weekdays after my work for school is done. I don't have to work, have kids, or a spouse, so that definitely helps I'm sure!

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Specializes in Pediatrics and Med Surf Float.

1-socail life

2-cleaning

3-sleep

I wont give upp doing the dishes. they are my break from studying and i have dirty dishes in the sink

my sanity left somewhere between my commute, the notes and lack of sleep. haven't found it since

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Sleep? I love sleep so much. Sometimes I go to bed at 7:00 pm and get up at 4:30 am. Sometimes I just lay in bed and stare at the ceiling thinking about how much I love sleep. Sometimes I try to reconstruct a dream I had trying to figure out if it has some sort of meaning other than Hot Pockets at bed time are a bad idea.

Showers? I always shower. I have very fine hair that looks super greasy if I don't wash it daily. Sometimes in the shower I think about sleep. Mmm tasty sleep.

Dishes? Paper plates.

Date nights? People do this?

Exercise? Is that the thing we do when running from supply to the rooms over and over again?

Sanity? I didn't have that to begin with.

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The first thing (and ideally the only thing) that goes out the window at the start of a semester is my need for a clean house. It irritates me when it's dirty, but I can stand it for a little while before a mandatory cleaning session. Plus our two boys (10 & 7) are getting older and are able to help out more & more. I'm a good delegator lol :)

The two important things to me, both to my sanity & my health are:

Sleep - 7-8 hours is mandatory and not negotiable. I can't learn well without proper sleep. Sometimes I'm tired and just can't absorb any more info (like before a test), so I go to bed & wake up an hour or two earlier, but my brain is ready to go after sleeping. No all nighters for me, doesn't work!

Exercise - we get 1hr 10 min for lunch break. I head straight to the student gym, run a quick 2-3 miles & shower (for the second time that day) and I'm back refreshed & ready to learn again.

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Married with 3 kids, work part-time. Nothing has changed. Still cook, still do dishes, still clean, still attend all the kids soccer games, still read for pleasure.

I was determined to not lose my non-nursing school life and so far I haven't had to. Now that may change in a few weeks once clinicals begin, but for now I'm right where I was before school started.

Kudos to you! I am also married with 3 kids and plan to keep my life as normal as I can. What classes are you taking? oh and what do you read for pleasure? I love to read too.

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Lol, okay I should definitely have said that my ACTUAL #1 thing to go is reading for pleasure. I normally read TONS - when a heavy-duty semester isn't in session. I miss reading, but I just do it in between semesters, at least until nursing school is over.... I would normally read for 2-3 hours a night in bed, but there just isn't extra time.

In case anyone is interested (I know you weren't asking me, but I had to answer!) :) I tend to read paranormal romance and vampire books - anything with a good storyline & good characters and it's got to be LONG with lots of books in the series.

Anita Blake series

Sookie Stackhouse series (Trueblood on HBO)

LOVED the Harry Potter series (all time favorite)

LOVED the Twilight series

I liked the story the 50 Shades series told, sex was a little excessive but it was a quick, easy & enjoyable read.

The House of Night series

The Host was an awesome book (I normally don't do stand alone books, but it was a big one and so worth it)

The Vampire Diaries series

The Kat & Bones books (night huntress series I think)

The Vampire Academy Books

Blue Books series

Cirque de Freak series

Evernight series

Immortals series

The Secret Circle series

The Dexter series (Dexter on Showtime)

Kay Scarpetta series (it's really went downhill in recent years though)

I could go on and on....my BFF and I share books and we tend to read the same things at the same time. I'm married (almost 13 years) with 2 kiddos and she's married with 1 on the way.

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Specializes in Nursing Assistant.

Select ALL that apply.

a. sleep ✓

b. showers

c. dishes ✓

d. date nights ✓

e. exercise ✓

f. sanity ✓

Not bad. 5 out of 6 apply. Do I get a cookie? :yeah:

I will have several of these types of questions on my first major exam in about a week.

Ah, the SATA's!!!

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Kudos to you! I am also married with 3 kids and plan to keep my life as normal as I can. What classes are you taking? oh and what do you read for pleasure? I love to read too.

I'm taking:

Fundamentals of Nursing - Lecture

Fundamentals of Nursing - Lab

Med-Surg I - Lecture

Med-Surg I - Lab

Introduction to Pharmacology

Med-Surg I Clinical

I read tons of different things. Fiction, erotica, classics, chick lit. If it holds my interest I read it.

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