Nursing school is intense. You’ve got tons of classes being thrown at you every which way a semester and it just simply seems like there’s never enough time in the day to do them all. But I’m here to share with you my secrets on how I time manage them all! Time Blocking is your friend! Each morning I wake up, I try to make a mental note of what’s going on in my day. For example, what assignments are due today, are their any exams tomorrow, and what errands/personal things do I have going on today. For me, a typical Monday is the perfect example of a time blocked day... (see below)
7:30am - Commute to campus 8:30-10:20am- First class 10:30-12:30pm - Study time! 12:30-2pm- Lunch and relaxation time with my friends 2-5pm- Second class 5:30pm - Commute home 6:30pm - Dinner with family and relaxation time (sometimes ill stay on campus to study) I find that time blocking really helps me get the most out of my day. Although things come up and change the pattern of the day, I like to have some general idea of what I’m doing that day. Plan Ahead. This is something I do every Saturday! I always have a look at what is going on this week exam and assignment wise! I like to do my best to feel ahead of the game as much as I can. I tend to write out everything coming up for the week in my planner as well as making a to do list! At the beginning of semesters I’ll also have a look at the syllabus schedules to see how each class is formatted. For example, most of my classes this semester have a scheduled day that similar assignments are due on (for instance: interactive modules are due on Sundays). This way I can gauge what days will be busier for me during the semester so I can get things done before hand to feel less stressed. To Do Lists are my bffs. Sometimes I prefer these over my planner! I really like to use to do lists when I’m feeling over stressed. The last week was quite hectic in my cohort so using the to do lists saved me! When I sat down to study I wrote down everything I wanted to accomplish before I left the library that night. Each time I completed something I’d tick it off as done! It’s so rewarding to knock items off a to do list! It really gives me that extra motivation to study.
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I remember when I started nursing school almost three years ago... I was so excited and nervous for what was to come. But let’s be honest, the stress and the workload slaps you in the face hard. It’s not a major for everyone. But I’m here to share with you some of my tips that helped me survive those first couple of years!
Make Friends First of all, you need friends by your side for almost everything in nursing school. Someone to cry on when you fail an exam, someone to have fun with on the weekends when you’re trying to forget about the stress of a million assignments, and someone to partner up with on assignments! In my program, my friends and I all work together. A huge part of nursing in the workplace is collaboration with others! I personally believe this is true in nursing school as well. Studying together is a huge part of what helped me through those first two years! Find a Hobby For me, this step is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I know it seems like there is zero time to have a life but I promise you it’s essential you prioritize and devote some time to having fun/doing a hobby the same you would for studying. I time block time to do something for myself everyday. For me, my biggest hobby is writing for you guys! I’ll go out and shoot Instagram content with my boyfriend or write up a post! It’s all about time management and doing something you love and makes you happy will refresh you when you feel burnt out. Time Manage Block off times in your day to keep yourself organized! For me when I wake up, I’ll make a mental plan of what my day is going to be like. What do I have to get done today? What assignments are due? And what fun thing am I going to do for myself today? Make sure to prioritize not only your school work and studying but yourself as well! I’m currently sitting down in this coffee shop listening to the sounds of coffee beans being ground and reading your messages. A lot of you are telling me about how you recently failed a test and aren’t sure if that’s ok. Well I’m here to tell you that it is perfectly NORMAL.
On Instagram, us nursing bloggers try to paint our lives as perfection. A perfect filter, perfect artsy coffee shop, and perfect grades. It’s normal for my fellow nursing bloggers and students to try to seem like they have it all together. But the truth is we don’t. I don’t. Nobody is perfect and we’re all human. I promised myself when I started this blog I’d be real and authentic because I really want you to be able to relate to me. As nice of a filter I may use on my instagram, I still have my own failures and you deserve to see that. Failing is a normal part of life. If we didn’t fail, we’d never learn. We’d never have to work harder and get to feel that sense of accomplishment when we prevailed. We’d simply be wonderful at everything. And that sounds completely awful to me. Failing helps me grow as a person. It helps show me that when I try so hard at something that I’m capable of things I didn’t know I could do. And the biggest one for me is nursing school. I’ve failed countless tests in nursing school. Some I stayed up all night studying for and worked for weeks at. And sometimes it just didn’t click for me. My rule of thumb I started to tell myself when I start to get down about failing a test is that I’m only human. That it doesn’t make me any less of a person or a future nurse. I make sure I see where my errors were or meet with my professor to discuss how I can improve. And once doing that and having a good long cry, I’ll work that extra bit harder. It is normal to not be perfect all the time. Long story short, next time you fail in life whether it be in nursing school or not, let it challenge you in a positive way. Have a good cry, scream, or whatever let’s out those emotions. And then, gather yourself and put your effort into prevailing past that failure and growing yourself. A test doesn’t define you. Don’t let it have that power. Nobody gave me a crash course in what to expect in nursing school. It was more of a push on a bike or a jump in the pool kind of situation where you just figure it out as you go & trust the process. But what nobody tells you can be the hardest things to handle... It will be hard. The hours of studying are long. Much longer than any other undergraduate degree and much more tedious than the classes your non-nursing friends are taking (and you’ll totally be jealous of it). You’ll be up hours later than you should be running purely on caffeine just to get that extra hour of studying in. It will make you feel incredibly dumb. There have been times where I feel like as much as I study I’m not doing enough. You’ll find there’s time you’ll work your ass off and get a “C” in a class or fail an exam. It will feel like your world is ending but I promise you it won’t! (C’s get degrees...but like aim for A’s) The atmosphere is competitive. And it sucks. People will always try to be better at a skill checkoff, smarter, or wiser than you. But that’s ok. Just maintain your self confidence in knowing you’re studying the most you can and are equally as wonderful at what you’re doing. Don’t get caught up in the GPA and grades. These things are important yes, but at the end of the day numbers don’t define you. You can be a wonderful nurse with a 3.0 GPA. Burnout is real. Some semesters you just wanna say f*ck it all and quit because you’re so tired of putting in so much and sometimes getting nothing back. But stay strong, study hard, and you WILL preserver! But at the end of the day it is worth every painful study session, every $5 you spend on coffee a day, and every late night pulling an all nighter. Because there is no greater feeling than passing a checkoff on a skill, mastering the art of caring, and passing those hard exams! You’ve got this!
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