"I was told to start on the Med-Surg floor, all nurses do"
"Is nursing really all that bad?"
"Do you still like being a nurse?"
"I was told only good nurses work in (insert area here)?"
"I was told getting a degree is a waste of time"
The list goes on. It’s amazing how we scare the masses into thinking a certain way when it comes to ‘what nursing is really about’. Everyone from the new nurse-to-be, the first year nursing student, the BSN graduate, and the ‘green-behind-the-ears’ new RN has ‘heard it’. For some strange reason there is only consistency in the fear, not the excitement??
Why the heck are we scaring all of own??? I mean seriously? These individuals are wanting, willing, and working to become our colleagues, our resources, our next co-worker and beyond. They are here to help us, and our wonderful career! So why would we fill their eager minds and hearts with ANYTHING negative? I mean ANYTHING.
Of course there are negative parts of nursing, heck there are negatives to every situation you encounter in life. Whether we are talking about work, family, or play – Not everything is sunshine and rainbows. I’m not wearing rose-colored glasses, but I’m surely not drowning or concentrating on the ‘what if’s’ or the ‘coulda-woulda-shoulda’s’ either!
Wake up my fellow nurses!
Whether you want to admit it or not, you are exactly where you want to be because of what you decided, not because of what was thrown at you, or what happened to you. You decided to stay. You decided to go. You decided to move, or not move. You decided to grow or not grow. You decided to shrink or shine. YOU.
That’s what this awesome job, career, and way-of-life is ALL about. WE get to decide how it treats us.
This is the best piece of advice you are ever going to get when it comes to the career of nursing, being a nurse, working as a nurse, and everything ‘nursing’:
You will get out of nursing everything you put into nursing.
If you want to succeed and make a difference – then you will.
If you want to impact lives and change outcomes – then you will.
If you want to be a nurse just for the paycheck – then you will.
If you want to hate your job, your co-workers, and your employer – then you will.
We have THE MOST unbelievable opportunities within our profession. Some take heed and answer the call with passion and aggression, while others willow down, slump around and place blame at everything that didn’t or isn’t happening.
What ever you do don’t go jumping off a bridge simply because someone told you to.
