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I'm feeling particularly inspired today as I embark on this new journey in life, aka Nursing School. Today was my first day of Nursing School, a rather pivotal moment in my life. After all the doom and gloom I have endured over the last few months over what to expect, I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised with the way my day went. I'll admit I was a little nervous at first, but that soon passed upon seeing familiar smiling faces and 6 long hours of monotony passed by fairly quickly. And although studying 16 chapters for a test that is in less than 3 weeks while working full-time is slightly intimidating, I don't feel wavered in my decision to do this. After some comments and concerns from classmates, our lecture teacher told us to go home and think long and hard about the commitment we were going to make: our lives were going to change very much from this point out. I'm really hoping that the fact that the whole "Nursing School is life" thing has been ingrained in my head for at least the past two years, will help me maintain my sanity throughout the program. Not to mention it has been expressed on multiple occasions only excuse for missing a lecture, lab or clinical is death. Literally. No pressure though, right? That being said, it's worth mentioning I am EXTREMELY grateful that I ventured down this path later a little later than I expected, and especially after having started a career the healthcare field. School is stressful enough without having to worry about how to make an occupied bed. Thankfully, my job has not only granted me many wonderful opportunities, alongside an incredible support system, but also solidified my desire to pursue Nursing School. Believe me you, this has been a looooong journey in the making (which is more or less my entire fault), but now I can finally sigh in relief. You see, ever since listening to a guest speaker in my Life Skills class in high school, I wanted to be a nurse...or thought so anyways. Fast forward to graduation a couple years later, and I'm too petty to "wait" two years to get into a program at my local community college. Two years seemed like CENTURIES away, which I will chalk up mostly to being a snotty little eighteen year old. I spent more time trying to figure out quicker ways and loop holes to get into a program, and for the least amount of work than I did learning anything. I wasted literally THOUSANDS of dollars of my own money, and time on classes that I would eventually retake later in life. Although I like to think the experience wasn't a total waste, it kind of was. Fast forward five years, and I find myself in Virginia. I was now 23, realizing it was time to get my shit together. At the suggestion of my future mother-in-law, I invested $1000 instead of $25,000 to figure out if Nursing was still in fact, a career I wished to pursue. It was. I excelled in my two month long program and landed a job at a local hospital in the ICU. I was so thrilled to finally get my foot in the door Sure, I have had my ups and downs, but who doesn't when you deal with estrogen overload day in and day out. It happens. It took me two years of hard work to finish out prerequisite classes for Nursing School, but here I am. Overjoyed. This is a new feeling for me. I used to get down on myself quite a bit. It's hard watching all your friends and colleagues go away to college and be career ready at the ripe age of 22. And what the hell was I doing with my life? Probably drinking myself into a stupor with my roommate. I really didn't want to be that person from high school, the thirty-something year old who could never seem to get their shit together, but it was starting to look that way. I felt so unaccomplished. But now, when I take a step back and look at my life, I am grateful for the was things turned out. I won't be the first to tell you I was entirely too immature to become a nurse at the age of 22. Truthfully, looking back, I could have really sabotaged my future career due to the poor choices I had made, and I thank God that I learned and grown from my mistakes. At 26, I feel like I am finally ready to buckle down and take on the responsibilities that come along with choosing a career in Nursing. It hasn't been easy for me, and it probably never will be, but that's okay. I just have to keep reminding myself of where I started at, and how far I have come. I was never a straight A student, or a straight B student for that matter, but once I began to apply myself I began to see changes. When people say you can do anything you put your mind to, it's true! You can do anything you put your mind to, you just have to apply yourself. I never fully understood what my dad was talking about when he would say, "You're smart Erika, you just need to apply yourself." It wasn't until my second roundabout in college that I started to apply myself and began to realize what he meant seeing, and seeing the difference it made. I'll leave you with these imparting words that will ring true for the rest of time, and that is nothing worth having comes easy.