12 signs that you are a Nursing Major
Nursing is hard work man…
1: You are ALWAYS busy
Lets get things rolling right off the bat, as a Nursing Major your life is pretty hectic, going from class, to work, dealing with clinical and the paper work that goes along with that, you always have something going on, on the days you don’t have something to worry about immediately after the next you are paranoid you are forgetting something.
2: Picking out Outfits is sometimes hard
At some point during nursing school you start to wear scrubs more than anything else, on the days where you don’t have to wear scrubs it becomes a sort of a scramble to actually turn on that part of your brain responsible for fashion and put together a decent outfit (when in doubt wear leggings).
3: Your planner/ agenda is your life
Between juggling school, clinical hours, work as well as a social life organization is key, many nursing majors depend on their planners to make sure that they know where to be and when, what assignments are due and when the next test is, to look inside a nursing majors planner may look like a mess of times and dates but is down right necessary to their survival.
4: Your social life has its ups and downs
Sometimes you get a break form work and tests and find you have time to go out with your friends and relax, other times you may go a day or two without seeing your Non- nursing major friends, but don’t fear, your friends support you and understand your busy life (and mostly you remind them why they didn’t go into nursing).
5: It becomes difficult to sleep in
As a nursing major most of your classes are pretty early in the morning, I’m talking 8:00am, and sometimes even earlier. Due to this your body eventually adjusts to waking up before the sun has completely risen and that becomes normal. Anything past eight in the morning you consider sleeping in!
6: You have a strange sleep schedule
In relation to the above point, your sleep schedule may resemble that of a kindergarteners, no matter how bad you want to stay up late and do cool things like watch T.V or hang out with your friends, you have a fairly early bed time, all your friends that boast about not having class until two in the afternoon will never understand why going to the gym at 11 o’clock at night is not a viable option for you.
7: You don’t have a problem talking about bodily functions anymore
Lets get real, after the first few weeks of clinical, you have seen enough urine, feces and vomit to last a life time (surprise its just the beginning), you get so accustomed to talking about that sort of thing with your nursing friends that you forget yourself and start talking about it around the dinner table with your family and friends… its not until someone says something that you notice they may be grossed out.
8: You have awkwardly specific study habits
You may have a specific spot in the library where you sit and study, you may have a schedule that tells you when to study and when to break, when it comes down to it no two study habits are the same, but all nursing majors will swear their method is most effective.
9: The giddiness you feel when you recognize medical jargon on T.V is real
Watching greys anatomy just isn’t the same as before you were in nursing school, your brain starts analyzing the situation and about 10 different nursing diagnoses pop into your head, you try and figure out what you would do in that situation while at the same time lusting over McDreamy and the other doctors at Seattle Grace.
10: You feel like you have a handle on your life one minute, and its crisis time the next
One minute you may be sitting in class imagining the day you graduate from nursing school and picturing yourself in the job of your dreams and really seeing it all come together. The next moment you don’t know how you got this far, or how much longer you can hang in there, nursing school is overall an emotional roller coaster (drown your sorrows with some Ben& Jerry’s it will all be okay)!
11: Your non-nursing friends come to you when they don’t feel well
Whether it be a stomach ache or the repercussions of having too much fun the night before, your friends start to treat you like their personal physician (even though none of us are qualified yet) you suck it up, assess and offer the best advice you can to help them feel better (Tylenol, water, nap and saltines)
12: You want to hug every patient that tells you that you are doing a good job
As aforementioned nursing school is hard and sometimes its hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, every once in a while you forget just how far you have come from where you started until one patient reminds you, it could be as small as getting them an extra blanket or a cup of ice water but being told you are doing a good job helps remind you why you are doing all of this, in the end its worth it.