Hello, I am having trouble deciding on whether or not I should be a nurse, and was hoping real nurses could give me some advice.
My whole life I've been an artist who has never been career oriented. I've only worked in retail, and after moving to another state I decided it was time to settle down with a real career. So I was immediately taken with nursing. It's an amazing career, exciting, where I can help people and save lives and make a difference, and the pay isnt bad either. But apparently everyone I tell that to says they are terrible reasons for becoming a nurse. And it doesnt help that I've been occupying my time with a steady stream of nursing horror stories from veterans online and in books. I'm scared of being bit and punched and verbally abused by patients, scared of C. Diff, and it seems like the best reasons to become a nurse is to be super excited about getting abused and changing bedpans.
I know that's not true, but it seems like my reasons are childish and unrealistic. A true nurse has a 'calling'--but I cant find any definition for the calling nurses get. Why did you become a nurse? What is a calling? When did you first have it? What is a real reason to become a nurse other than wanting to help people and fix problems and being awesome? Am I wrong to want to go down this path because I think it's an exciting and economic career?
Thank you for any information you can give me, I really appreciate it.
Nursing doesn't have to be a calling. For some it truly might be, but for some of us it's just a job. Probably for most of us it's a career. Something we are good at that gives us at least some small amount of professional and personal satisfaction. If it's a job you think you might like and that you think you might be good at just go into it with eyes open.
Also keep in mind that the internet is full of more complaints than praise. Sure we have Godawful days, maybe even Godawful jobs that we can safely vent about here, but we also have good days. You will just hear much more of the negative than the positive, that's just human nature.
Look. It's a career with good benefits, good pay vs. barrier to entry, and allows you to help your fellow human being. After reviewing the job description vs. the above compensation, is it for you? There is no midnight vision or "special calling" or LSD fueled revelation.
OP: I agree with the majority that having a "calling" to nursing is a tired old cliche. Also, keep in mind that being "called"--whatever you want to define "called" as--to be a nurse in no way guarantees that you will be a successful nurse. It takes a lot more than a burning desire/passion to make it in this profession.
Thanks. So what, may I ask, were the reasons most of you became nurses?
Because I wanted a job that was portable and in which I would never be bored.
Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.
My calling was to be able to put food on the table and a roof over my children's heads. Secondarily, I thought I could do a job that was interesting to me at least part of the time, that gave me a feeling of being productive without being bored...
No calling here. In fact, my mom was a nurse and tried to convince me to be a nurse and I wanted nothing to do with it.
I'm called to a find a job. I think some people accuse those that don't have a calling as being ONLY in it for the money and this isn't the case. If that were the only reason, there are many other jobs out there that pay much more for less work.
I wanted a job that had a lot of variety, that had a flexible schedule, that I could do in basically any area of the country, and where I felt like I was doing something interesting and meaningful as opposed to crunching numbers. Plus I already had a BS and wanted to feel like I was at least somewhat using it.
Nursing fit the bill and now I'm really excited about it. You don't have to hear voices in your head telling you to do something in order for it to be the correct path. Some of us took a detour or two along the way.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Okay, this will probably sound just flat out, plain SAPPY to some, but it's my particular truth.
I was picked on a lot when I was a child, by my father, by teachers, by schoolmates.
My mother ( a nurse) and some of the old people in my small town were very kind to me, and I felt comforted and safe with them.
When I was around 19, I got a job as an NA on 3-11 at a nursing home.
Many of my patients tugged at my heartstrings. I wanted to make them feel better, less scared; to feel comforted and safe, to make them smile and feel better, if only for a moment or two. I wanted people to be glad to see me (instead of eager to pick on me and/or to put me down.)
It was very satisfying and fulfilling to find out I was good at doing all that. I wasn't a big shot, I was a small cog, but I was a nice small cog.
The thing is, I didn't expect to find the medical field so interesting; I wanted to know a lot more.
I never told my mother I was applying to nursing school, I only told her once I was accepted. She'd never pushed to have one of her girls be a nurse, but it pleased her no end; she cried when I told her.
When I started nursing school, I was absolutely fascinated the way all the body systems worked together, and then the things that could be done if they weren't working together.
So, I never had a calling per se. You can call it a happy coincidence, or you could say it was God leading me to use my strengths developed due to negativity early in my life. Whatever it was, I'm happy to be here, doing what I do.
kbrn2002, ADN, RN
3,967 Posts
Nursing doesn't have to be a calling. For some it truly might be, but for some of us it's just a job. Probably for most of us it's a career. Something we are good at that gives us at least some small amount of professional and personal satisfaction. If it's a job you think you might like and that you think you might be good at just go into it with eyes open.
Also keep in mind that the internet is full of more complaints than praise. Sure we have Godawful days, maybe even Godawful jobs that we can safely vent about here, but we also have good days. You will just hear much more of the negative than the positive, that's just human nature.