Nursing School Problems

Nursing School Problems

Before starting my Spring 2012 semester at Loyola, I had been repeatedly told that it would be my hardest one while in the BSN (Nursing) program at LUC. This past week and a half has squashed any doubts I had about this fact. While I know that I will get through this semester with an intact GPA (my sanity and social life are still up in the air), I can also tell that it’s going to be a stressful time. In order to pep myself up, I thought I’d remind myself of some of the things I have to look forward to this semester:

1. No longer needing to worry about time management – This refers to is the fact that the amount of work given in a night can be exorbitant, no matter how you budget your time. For example, there is no way that I can finish the six chapters of textbook reading, two math units, three skills and an hour and a half online lecture by Thursday unless I get struck by a radioactive meteor and develop the power to pause time. Instead of just freaking out about how to budget my time, or wasting hours looking up the next meteor shower, I simply work whenever I can, while remembering not to beat myself up because I didn’t finish absolutely everything.

2. Making a whole group of new friends – They say that misery loves company; nursing school is no exception. The rate at which I’ve been making friendships has pretty much tripled in the past few weeks. It’s always nice to have more people to smile at when walking across campus, and it’s convenient to have friends in all the same classes as you, especially when “socializing” is really just studying with the company of others.

3. More opportunities to talk to professors – I have found that whether or not I like a professor when they are teaching, I like all of them outside of the classroom. You can clearly tell they are hard on us because they really want us to pass the NCLEX and be the best nurses possible. As more and more of my classes become focused on nursing, I’m finding that the opportunities to talk to my professors comes up more often. I appreciate this, because who better to answer my questions about working as a nurse than actual practicing nurses?

4. Remembering the importance of mental health – It’s extremely easy to forget about your mental state when focusing hours and days of your time on studying, comprehending, and memorizing facts. While going partying every weekend isn’t a great idea, don’t beat yourself up for “taking time off” to go to a movie or hang out with friends for a few hours. In fact, I wouldn’t even consider it to be “taking time off”; taking care of yourself can be just as important as taking care of your workload.

5. Don’t forget to laugh – It’s easy to get completely overwhelmed during this semester and by this whole process.  However, it’s important to keep a smile on your face, and remember to enjoy yourself once in a while.  My favorite study break is to visit NursingProbs, because it’s a great place for nursing students to make fun of ourselves and the occasional ridiculousness of our lives.

Some of the more funny NursingProbs, as compiled by my friend and fellow nursing student, Christina Reckard
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