Week 11 - Relief....Well Kinda

What?

We finished our service learning volunteer hours and this has been the first week without that looming over my head. I had a paper to write and a couple of tests to do this week so I did not really focus on the service learning project. It was nice to not have to think about it for once this semester. I have most of the documentation of the project and I need to get started on writing the paper. My group is going to help out with the paper once I get it started. Unfortunately, I know that starting a paper is half of the battle. It is one of the hardest things, but it will get done.

In class this week we talked a lot about what life will be like when we are nurses. Most of what I remember is discussing finding jobs and the things we have to deal with (i.e. death) when we do work in a healthcare environment. I found this to be one of the most interesting classes we've had this semester. The fact that it was outside was not too shabby either.

So What?

So now I have to get off my lazy butt and start writing this paper so that my group can have a solid foundation for the paper. We also need to get together to discuss and practice how we are going to present our project to the class. I will admit, I am a little nervous about the presenting.

I find it very important to think about life after school. I have often thought about where I need to position myself professionally to reach my ultimate goals. I know that I want to go on to be a nurse practitioner of some sort but I need to figure out a specialty area so that I can work in that direction. My biggest problem is that I keep jumping around. One week I think I want to be a CRNA so I think aobut ICU jobs and the next week I'll think about being a CMA and look into labor and delivery jobs. The sometimes, out of nowhere, I think about being a pharmacist. I'm not quite sure where that one comes from.

Now What?

Now I will need to plan a time to work on my paper. I find that I get my work done best when I plan a big chunk of time to work on it. I think that working on something for hours at a time helps me to maintain focus on that one task. I think that I will be more successful with this project if I plan the time well.

I will also continue to explore my options of grad school. I don't have to decide what I want to be right now but I do need to consider all of my options so that I can best position myself in the correct job to get to where I'm going. I have already begun that process by working as a CNA at IMC. This has put me into a position where I can more easily get a job in a hospital as an RN. Even though it's hard to work like this and go to school, I do not think I will regret it.