What path should i take?

[nullaby]

Hello everyone, I appreciate it in advance if you read this and give me an honest reply. Well, heres my dilemma, Im now 19, went to 1 year of community college, stopped thinking i wanted to become a massage therapist and work in a spa. But since the massage school starts monday im really thinking if this is what i really want to do now (and if i want to plunk down 11k for it but i know nursing school and all that will cost more than that, i just dont want to feel like im settling for less). The past few weeks ive been researching different aspects of nursing, and i tend to find myself VERY interested in (forgive me if i do not give proper titles:mad:) nurse psychiatrist, RN Midwife, and womens health. My mom was a NICU nurse so I think the need to help people and inform was kinda handed down.

But anyway, getting back to my main question, how would i go to school for one of the above careers, is there like a main path i can do, and then figure out which one i like the best and branch off? Ill go back to looking at websites, i think ive done too much reading for the past 10 hours though lol I appreciate everyones input and opinons! Thank you for your time

[bullcityrn]

I would think your mom should be a great source of information since she was an NICU nurse. But if you're looking for another point of view, might be best to do some volunteer work or see if its possible to shadow a nurse at your local hospital to get a better sense of what is involved. Maybe interview some nurses working in the areas you're interested in and get their take as well. And, as you've discovered, you can get lots of great information here on allnurses.com!

Anyway, once you get into nursing school, you'll get a better feel for some of the different nursing specialties when you do your clinicals and can better determine how to achieve your desired goals from there. A person can never really know in advance if they've made the right choice when presented with different paths. ..all you can do is get as much info as you can in advance, have faith, and take a chance! You can always get out if it turns out to not be the right thing for you. But if you have some doubts about whether or not you want to continue massage school, well, I think you are right to look more into things before spending $11K.

Good Luck!

Edited to add: if you haven't already do so, visit http://www.discovernursing.com, I think that website is a great starting point.