Dispelling the black-hole myth

I recently helped out at school at the new-student orientation for the incoming nursing class. My friends and I were passing down advice to the “newbies,” all the while finding it hard to believe that we were in their shoes only a year and a half ago.

So among the sage advice of “don’t wear colored underwear under your white scrubs,” and the “get to know your classmates because no-one at home is going to understand what you’re talking about,” I heard those chilling words I had heard so many times before, “You’re not going to have a life once you start nursing school.”

Have you heard this?!? I had heard these same words from countless students in the weeks leading up to nursing school, and they haunted me. I remember talking to my family and friends, warning them that they may not hear from me once I start, and telling my boyfriend that I hoped we would find some time to go out once-in-a-while, because I wouldn’t have a life once I started nursing school.

I would like to set the record straight: you CAN have a life outside of nursing school. In fact you NEED to get out and do something else every so often. It might not be the party-every-weekend kind of life that you see on TV or in movies, and it might not be as eventful as you’re non-nursing friends’, but it is possible to have fun.

Nursing school does not have to be the life-consuming black hole everyone makes it out to be. Yes, there are nights when you would rather be out with your friends, but you have to finish a paper, and maybe you can’t make it to EVERY (insert family event/party/date here), but after a year and a half of it, I am a firm believer that you NEED to make the time every so often to put yourself together, meet up with your friends/family/significant other and relax.  It is not impossible. Nursing school only controls your life as much as you let it. You have to be in control, plan your week out, and balance your study time with a few hours of “you time” whatever that is. It’s not always ideal, but on those days you HAVE to study, come up with an alternative way to reward yourself for all the hard work you’ve done. Nursing school is tough, but it’s not the end of life as you know it….it’s just the beginning.

Is your school plagued with this saying too?  It’s always tough trying to balance it all, what ways work best for you?studne