Welcome to Hell—er, Nursing School!
If you’re here, I’m assuming you’re a nursing student, in which case—welcome to hell! I’m just kidding. Mostly. Or, maybe you’re a really intensely passionate parent or friend or significant other hoping to give your nursing student the best shot in school. Wow, that’s so sweet. Send them this link, and then leave them alone. 1) They’re studying, and 2) They need to learn to function without you helicoptering around them. Again, kidding. Kind of.
This may be the first time you’ve heard of me, and if so, I’m thrilled you’re here! This all started from an Instagram account I made when I was a baby nursing student. I told myself, “self, you’re going to want to remember this some day.” And I was smart enough to know that if I didn’t chronicle my time in nursing school, I’d probably suppress it all as a trauma response, and I’d either be running free down city streets as I yelled to the heavens about how you should NEVER GO TO NURSING SCHOOOOOL, or I’d be one of those smug nurses who’s like “oh, you should totally be a nurse. It’s all peaches and cream and sunshine and roses and nothing bad or stressful ever happened to me in school.” I don’t want to be either. I want to be the Cool Aunt who says, “listen kid—it’s gonna suck, and you’re gonna love it.” And then I’d tell you about all the cool things I’ve done and you’d say “wow, Aunt Meris, you sure are cool,” and I’d smile all smug and knowing from behind my sunglasses, take a sip of my drink, and let you bask in purposeful silence.
I’m absolutely kidding, because I’ve never been cool in my entire life. Just let me pretend.
But that’s the truth. It’s hard. It sucks. And it’s so incredible, life-changing, and awe-inspiring all at the same time. Most of all, it’s okay for it to be both. We don’t have to make things black and white all the time, because that’s not what life is. Life is messy and complicated, all tangled up with emotions and failures and successes and struggles. So I’m going to keep it real with you. I’ll tell you about how amazing nursing school is while also letting you know how sometimes I go to the grocery store and the cashier asks me how my day is, and I burst into tears and unload a week’s worth of nursing school stress on a poor 18 year old who does NOT get paid enough to be my therapist. That is absolutely a true story, and I will tell it to you in depth one day.
Anyway, if you’re a Long Time Listener, First Time Caller, then you know me. You know I’m a nerd above all else, I study a lot, I juggle school with two small kids, clinical rotations, and a Federal Work Study job (thanks, government!), and maybe you know that my study methods work. But listen (look), here’s the thing. They work for me. Sometimes, they work for you guys, too. And sometimes you shake your head and throw your arms up in frustration, and say “THIS ISN’T WORKING!” And that’s the big secret (that isn’t really a secret)—the same thing doesn’t work for every person. So when I talk to you on this blog, take it with an absolute heaping pile of salt (preferably attached to a margarita?). This is what works for ME.
The best advice I can give you is that if a study method works for you, you should keep it and hold onto it for dear life. But if it doesn’t, throw it into the flaming pile of garbage out back where I keep the rest of my terrible ideas. Do not ever stick with a study method if it isn’t working. You don’t owe that study method anything. It isn’t paying your bills, so yeet it into the garbage fire and MOVE. ON. I will never be disappointed that my study methods don’t work for you. I’ll be proud of you for being willing to try something new.
Let me give you a brief rundown of how I hope to conduct business on this blog. If things go the way I hope to, as of the publishing of this initial post, I will be sharing several things with you:
—Studying methods
—Test-taking methods
—My favorite outside resources
—Time management tips
—The miscellaneous “how to survive in nursing school” advice I have hoarded along the way
—And, weirdest of all, some creative writing
“Meris,” you’re saying, as you push yourself away from your desk, “I’m not here to indulge your weird aspirations of being an author.” Listen, I get it. But here’s the sitch: I used to write creatively about my experience working in medicine MANY moons ago (I’m also apparently the village witch, with aphorisms like that). I liked it, I think I was pretty good at it, and other people seemed to like it too. I miss it, and I want to try dabbling in it again. So every now and then, just humor me, and let me spin a yarn (gotta keep up the folsky aphorisms now). The best part is that you can absolutely just keep on scrollin’.
All that said, welcome to nursing school. It’s awful. You’re gonna love it.
Happy studying! Don’t forget to take your meds, and stay hydrated.