Will it get better?

[anxiousnscared]

Hey y'all! Okay I am seriously, seriously at the end of my rope. I'm in my forth semester of nursing school and I graduate in December. I am so burned out from everything. This scares me because I haven't even became a nurse yet! I don't even know if I have anything else left in me. This is the most hardest time of my life and it has made my (already existing) depression and anxiety worse. Will it get better after I graduate? Is nursing school the worst part of it? Or am I kidding myself? I question myself about this all the time. If I can't handle school stress how will I handle being a nurse?

[FutureNurseInfo]

Hi there! I am not a nurse, but a pre-nursing student on my way to become a nurse. Frankly, I am a bit jealous, since you are almost at the finish line to become a nurse!!!!

I do feel your pain, though. I am career changer and currently work as a teacher. I have gone through school twice!!! Each time I was about to graduate I would freak out and, like you, second-guess myself and my ability to function on my own as a teacher and be responsible for so many young minds!!!! Trust me, many people go through times like these!!! It is perfectly natural to feel burned out because all the time up to now you have been working your butt off to be the best nursing student you can be! Needless to say, this does take a toll on your life, both physically and emotionally. I will not lie, yes, first year or two will be hard since you are new and you will need time to adjust to the working environment, people you will work with, patients, the routines and procedures etc. Eventually, you will get the hang of it and trust me, when I say this, a year or two later you will look back and be amazed at how worried you were, when in fact, things were not that bad to begin with. I have been teaching for 7 years now and my first year was the worst. I was brand new and no matter what I did was never good enough. I was at the brink of getting fired; I was so sick to go in every day that I actually got physically sick. But one day I woke up and said to myself: "nobody but you can make your life miserable. If you let other people and things make your feel so bad, than you are the one who is at fault." So I got up, and decided to turn my life around. And I did. Now I am a successful, highly effective teacher.

So I say finish your last semester on high notes, and have a plan to start your nursing career!!!

[Meganmcm]

All I can say is, yes! It gets so much better.

The schoolwork, hours of studying, cramming, and sleepless nights will be worth it. This doesn't go to say that nursing is a breeze, and you're not going to ask yourself, "what did I get myself into?". But having a real human in front of you and not just a mannequin will be incredible. The moment you may make someone's day, change someone's life, of even save someone's life will make it all SO worth it.

You're almost there! Keep your head high and grind through it!