Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Yours Honestly, NS: The biggest lie about nursing school

We’ve all heard it, and the majority of us have said it: “I have no life—I’m in nursing school,” “Nursing school is my life,” “I have no life outside of nursing school,” or some variation. We say it as a complaint, but, deep down, we all kind of wish it were true. Because, even deeper down, we all know it’s not. No matter how much we wish we could just take these couple years and tackle this torment that is nursing school, life insists on continuing around us—and we are forced to keep up.
Ben Rector (my favourite artist, but that’s irrelevant), has a song that states (pardon the terminology), “Here’s the truth: life sucks sometimes. When it hurts so bad that you can’t go on, life keeps moving on.” I wish that all I had to deal with were nursing school. I wish that I didn’t have other aspects of life to handle as well—but I do. I have relationships to maintain, I have work to go to, I have dishes to put away. Sometimes we feel like all those are put on hold, but they’re not. Every mother in the program that has to care for her sick child when she could be studying for a test knows that. The one whose house was destroyed by a natural disaster… the one whose family member died… the one whose family member was rushed to the hospital… the one who got engaged…the one who broke up…. They all know it. We all know it. Life won’t stop, so neither can we.
I don’t mean to be pessimistic—it’s not just the bad stuff that butts its head in. It’s the good stuff, too. Sometimes, it means forfeiting study time so you can go see one of your best friends get married. Or to babysit your nephew. Or, for some, to have a child (those girls are straight up HEROES). “If it’s good or bad, if it’s slow or fast: life keeps moving on." 
Sometimes, you have to say, “this test is important, but this person is more important.” Because we know, in 20 years, we won’t care if that test was a 70 or an 80. We’ll care that we have precious memories with the people that we love. I’ve yet to regret a movie night or cup of coffee that I’ve squeezed into my schedule.
So, new nursing students or those who aspire to be ones—don’t believe the lie. Yes, when school starts, you’ll be busy. You will have to sacrifice a lot. You’ll feel, at times, that all you are is a nursing student and that’s all you ever do. But it’s not. And life will make sure you find that out. So be prepared for the bad; be excited for the good. Life will find it’s way into all the mess of assignments and tests—and you can do it. You can cry yourself to sleep one night and get up and do school the next (you may need a power nap, but you’ll make it). Don’t feel guilty when you do something other than school—you need that. You are human. And you are more—much more—than a nursing student. No one that has gone before you has been perfect—so don’t feel like you need to be. Sometimes life hits you like a truck; sometimes, life makes you feel like you're flying. “And it’s beautiful and tragic, different verse but same old song. Sometimes the only thing you learn is that life keeps moving on.”

Yours honestly, NS.


(all lyrics from Ben Rector’s “Life Keeps Moving On”)