That guilty feeling

Making time for yourself is, to me, one of the keys to success in nursing school. You need to be able to balance out the work with the play so that you stay focused when you don’t experience burn-out before you even get started with your first job. Despite advocating for this balance and being a fan of keeping my off weekends to myself. There are times when I have that designated period of time set aside for school and sit there thumbing through a wedding magazine instead.
My mind wanders to dresses, flowers, shoes, guests, decorations, more shoes, hair, make up, love, and even more shoes. Instead of TED host and leg squeezers I’m thinking of heels for the ceremony and maybe some flats for dancing in later? Regardless of where my mind goes, it floats far from the assignments I should be focusing on. Call it day dreaming, or call it senioritis, but inevitably, Monday rolls around and it’s time to get back to work, and even though I know I need to have my me-time, there’s one part of me giving another part of me a guilt trip for not having utilized my time efficiently enough.

“Not cool brain! I need my me-time too”! I shout at it (silently), but it’s too late. It’s week six and I am facing another busy week filled with summaries and objectives. And you know, it’s really hard to just “get back to work” when you’re giving yourself a guilt trip. But at the same time, it’s really hard to get yourself to stop doing it too! What’s done is done, and it’s time to focus again.

Nursing students: how do you get back to focusing after a weekend of, well, NOT focusing?