I guess I should talk about what really prompted me to become a nurse, why I feel driven to do it, and what took me so long to get my butt in gear, so I will.
I haven't always wanted to be a nurse, though I've always felt the need to take care of others. My previous career choices have included acting (I was 17 and going to take the English stage by storm) and being a lawyer, but those ideas didn't last long. I really couldn't decide what I wanted to do because I wanted to do so many things, depending on my mood and what I was doing at the time.
The concept of nursing kind of fell into my lap in 2004. I was jobless and saw an ad for a position that I had never heard of before, but was qualified for; Direct Support Professional. I didn't know quite what the job entailed, but I liked the wage and I desperately needed to work. I had three children, my husband had just lost his job, and he was having problems finding another, so I applied and interviewed.
The position involved caring for special needs individuals and it gave me my first taste of 'somewhat' nursing. I passed meds, took vitals, and was in constant contact with doctors and nurses along with other household tasks. I loved it! I loved knowing that my actions were directly helping another person and, to this day, it has been the most rewarding position that I've ever held. That position led to another as a Home Manager, which led to another in Client Benefits. It was during the last position that I realized I needed to get my butt in school. I wasn't getting any younger and I needed to be in a position that completed me. Corny line, yes, but it's true.
In 2007, I began classes at a for-profit school that allowed me to immediately begin taking the classes that I needed. However, I became pregnant and had a difficult time with it. I had bronchitis (it was bad enough to be admitted to the hospital) and not long after that, I miscarried at 11 weeks which constituted another trip to the hospital. I was depressed because I'd wanted another baby for so long and withdrew from school and quit my job (there was another reason for the latter, but I won't go into that). About 2 months after the miscarriage, I became pregnant again and this resulted in my only son, Baby D. He showed me that there is a reason for everything and perhaps the reason for my miscarriage was to make me appreciate him even more. But, that's another story. :-) Also, these events put me in the path of a new, better school.
Baby D was born in summer 2008, but it took me another 9 months to actually get things together for school and get in classes. I chose a community college this time; one with a very competitive/rigorous processes to get into the actual nursing program. I chose it because I'd heard good things, but also because it was less than half the amount of the for-profit school each semester! I think that choosing to return to school when I did was one of the best choices that I've made in my life; mainly because I was finally at a place where I could really focus and because I was finally mature enough to know that I needed to focus and work as hard as I could.
So, there it is, my beginning. More to come soon, I'm sure.
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