1st and 2nd Semester Recap

This photo was taken after our final. We all met up to dine and celebrate the end of our second semester.

Holy Smokes. It’s been too long since my last blog post. I feel like I’ve been in a whirlwind and back but all for the love of nursing. I know every nursing program is different but I wanted to give a recap of my first two semesters just to enlighten those that may be wondering (or those that may be in my program).

First Semester:
This semester is your foundation of nursing. You have two different areas that you are graded in and checked off on which is theory (lecture) and clinicals (in the hospital working with patients). You’ll most likely be doing med/surg your 1st semester which are mostly older adults with various diagnoses. I didn’t actually appreciate med/surg until 2nd semester because you truly learn so much on that floor. Theory was a challenge at first but once you learn how to study and it’s working for you, stick with that tactic throughout the program. The challenging thing about nursing school is that you are learning a lot of new information in class while concurrently learning a ton of new information in clinicals. Your brain is constantly being stretched and you don’t learn how much capacity it can actually hold until you test it. First semester tests it. On another note, this was the semester I had a social life.

Second Semester:
This was the semester I didn’t have much of a social life. In fact, there were multiple responsibilities I had to step down from due to the increased learning curve this semester evoked. I started to believe the lie that if I was smarter, I’d be able to juggle more of the things I wanted to do, including school. However, that is not the truth. I had to remember what God told me the beginning of 2014 when I started the program– this was the year to steward [well] the dreams God has given me. I realized mid-semester that if I need to let go of some things it doesn’t make me any less of a person or a leader. I want to steward this dream of mine well and I will do what it takes. I also remember that this is only a season and that even bigger things are up ahead. God knows me, he knows I LOVE to socialize and be with friends, that’s also how I know this won’t be a forever thing.

The beginning of this semester was, how can I say it…. brutal. It was partially my own fault because I did zero (and I mean 0) preparation over the summer. What can I say? I love my breaks and I LOVE my vacations. I pretty much mentally got off the plane from Miami and went straight to class and that was no bueno. The learning curve is set a lot higher this semester. I remember at orientation for the program a lot of the professors talked about keeping in touch with friends and having them cook dinner for you once a week or so to help you out. Well, this was that kind of a semester. Dinner was an inconvenience (and sometimes eating it was too).

2nd semester we learned pediatrics and OB which was totally new content. We also started clinicals two weeks into the semester. The demand for both theory and clinicals was set a lot higher and it was quite overwhelming in the beginning but then it becomes your normal.

There were quite a few upperclassmen I spoke with that said they had to repeat their second semester. Right off the bat, there was a fear in me that that could be me but I couldn’t let that fear drive me. My drive is to learn as much as I possibly could, study as much as I possibly can, and do the best that I could do. I knew if I stuck to that, I would do great. And not to toot my own horn but I did do great (toot, toot!).
This semester was definitely a challenge but I’ve acquired a wealth of knowledge about pediatrics, OB, diabetes, respiratory acidosis/alkalosis (say wha?!), AIDS, cancer, chemotherapy, and most of all, I’ve learned so much about myself. I can do this and I can be great at it and if I can do it, so can you.

Farewell to 2014 and cheers to 2015! I felt God told me 2015 is going to be my year (not that every year isn’t but there’s something special for me this year). I do graduate December 2015, that will be a milestone, for sure. 3rd semester, let’s go!

And then there was clinicals…

This is the wonderful SCC ADN Class of Spring 2015. I am excited to share this journey with all of these guys. So far, so good.

Anxiety much?

Orientation has come and gone, along with 2013! January has finally arrived and I start school in less than 2 weeks! The orientation went well. I met all of my professors who have all worked as nurses. We got a new book list, went over background/criminal history (cuz you know I got a lot of that), and all of our supplies. It was basically a run through of everything we need/need to know before we hit the ground running on the first day of school. Exciting information: we start clinicals 5 weeks into the program! Can’t wait to get myself into a hospital working with patients, even if it means shadowing another nurse. Aside from getting all the preparations squared away, my eyes kept wondering around the room at the people. I’m a total people-watcher. I mean, I am going to be spending A LOT of time with these people for the next 2 years! I hear the first day of class is when we really spend some time getting to know each other, I’ll be looking forward to that.

Many people have asked me if I’m nervous about starting the nursing program. After all, I am about to start the most intense program ever, so they say. It’s safe to assume one might be feeling a little anxiety leading up to that. But I have not been letting my mind go into anxious, nervous, fearful, crazy person mode. When people ask, I simply say no. I tell my feelings the truth which is– I have nothing to fear for, God has already prepared the way for my success. I am fully equipped with the knowledge, medical supplies, books, and anything tangible that I would need. I have learned how to manage my time so that there are no voids in my marriage, my family, or my grades. I could go on but I’ll stop there.

Those are some of the things I’ve been declaring over myself as I jump into this Spring semester. I’ve even started flash cards for school and aside from medical terms I’ve thrown in some encouraging words for myself. It’s all about what you think about and speak over yourself. I’m learning more and more how important it is from my mommy friends. They declare over their babies, while still in their womb, God’s truths about who they are. They declare over their pregnancy and delivery that it’s going to be smooth and pain free. Down the line when the hubby and I start a family, this will be so valuable. But why wait? Why not start adopting this into my life now? I want to be able to go into a situation anxiety free because my thoughts line up with the truth. It can be done.

On a lighter note, never did I EVER think I’d buy myself a pair of Birkenstock’s!!! No disrespect to those that wear them on a daily basis but they are definitely NOT my style. They were recommended to me by a friend as great nursing shoes. I tried a pair on and I actually love how they feel! They aren’t the cutest (especially since our uniform calls for white– big, clunky, cloggy white Birkenstock’s) but I do admit they are very comfy. Here’s a pic:

In 12 days, look forward to a photo of my first day of school– white Birkenstock’s and all. Let’s go!

Open book.

If you don’t know me, that’s ok. All you need to know about me, I’ll tell you in this section.

My name is Angela and I grew up in a little ity bitty city by the bay called Vallejo– about 45 minutes outside of San Francisco. Highschool was around the time I started using writing as an outlet. Yours truly wasn’t much of a beauty queen growing up and the kids at school didn’t hold back from letting me know that. But, that’s ok because my senior year was when I blossomed! I didn’t just learn what a hair straightener was or how to work with the face and body God gave me but I also blossomed in my confidence. Expressing myself through journaling definitely got me through some very tough times, i.e. high school, and helped me express myself in a healthy way.

After high school, I moved out to San Francisco with my best friend for college. We chose a very prestigious school, the University of San Francisco. But after a falling out with my best friend and her family, we went our separate ways and started college without each other. At the time, I was a journalism major and all alone in a big city. I retreated back to Vallejo every weekend and that’s when I realized I was at the right place, at the wrong time. I moved home– changed my environment, changed my major, and changed my goals. I had a complete paradigm shift. College wasn’t about anyone else and the experience isn’t based on anyone but me and what I make of it. After a semester at a community college back home, I was ready, this time, to be on my own. I got accepted to Sacramento State University and started pursuing kinesiology. If you don’t know what that is, that’s ok, it is not the study of magnets (I’ve been asked that), it is the study of the movement of the human body. And it is awesome. I was a pre-physical therapy major. Being at Sac State was one of the best experiences of my life. University life was awesome, my classmates are now life-long friends, and I still remember all of the things I’ve learned in school. I mean, not EVERYTHING, but the interesting stuff. And THAT is what your college experience should be like. You should LOVE it especially when you find what you love and are passionate about it.

I thought I would go on to physical therapy school but realized it wasn’t my passion. But the human body was my passion and I learned all of the intricate details of the body in my kinesiology major. I’m happy to say this girl graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Kinesiology in 2009, woop woop! One of my greatest accomplishments in life (getting slightly teary eyed). Any who, I wanted to keep learning and figure out what it was I wanted to do as a career. I continued my studies through an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) program at a community college. This is where I interned at an ER and found my love for helping people in this way. Since then, I started pursuing nursing school.

I applied to nursing school for 4 and 1/2 semesters and I have to say this last go around was the toughest. I did feel like giving up and I didn’t feel like I was good enough (which is a total lie). However; I knew going into the nursing field that it could very well take a couple of years just to get in. Before the last semester I applied, which was for Fall 2013, I was at a breaking point. I couldn’t handle one more rejection letter! I started believing that my dream was dying, that I wasn’t qualified to be a nurse, and that God didn’t care about my dream. But after sharing my thoughts with God and a very good friend of mine, I revived my pursuit. I couldn’t give up, if this was something I really wanted I had to push through the feelings of rejection and keep pursuing my dream. It was going to happen, it just wasn’t going to be on my time frame. My dear friend (who was walking out her dream at UCLA grad school!) deeply understood me and the feelings I had felt and really encouraged me to apply again. The semester I almost gave up was the semester I got in, thank you Jesus!

If you haven’t caught on yet, I am a believer in Jesus Christ. My life changed significantly when I started walking out in my true identity as a daughter of a King. I have so many testimonies of the Lord changing (what seems like) impossible circumstances in my life. I’ll share one in my blog that I hope will encourage you. I also have a community called Epic Life where I have made life-long friends and spiritual family members. They encourage me, sharpen me, and love on me AND they hear the voice of the Holy Spirit! Not to mention, I have the most amazing husband who does all of the above and knows how to lead me– God knew what I needed!

So the pages that follow will be the stories and experiences of my dream unfolding. Nursing school is a journey and I want to document it because it may help someone– even if it’s just one person. I know there are many who have experienced or are experiencing the disappointment of a rejection letter or the lies that you are not enough. But I want you to be encouraged by my own testimony and know that you ARE enough and your dream does matter. You are qualified and totally capable of accomplishing the dreams and passions you have in your heart. I can’t wait to share what nursing school is like and I promise to be completely and brutally honest in my posts. (If you know me, you know I have no problem telling it like it is!) Let’s go.

Behind the scenes.

So the picture above, that’s me. When you receive wonderful news, you must celebrate and one of the ways I do that is by taking a picture to remember the moment. This was the acceptance letter I had been daydreaming about for years!

I got into an associate degree nursing program at a community college very close to home. Although it took me 4 1/2 semesters to get into the program, God’s timing couldn’t have been anymore perfect. Since my very first time applying til now, I have learned to trust myself and trust that I can hear the voice of the Lord. God put a desire in my heart and encouraged me to pursue it. I learned along the way that no rejection letter speaks to my identity as a daughter. I received several letters from different programs telling me that my classes weren’t good enough, my experience wasn’t relevant enough, or my repeated classes were just not acceptable. It’s easy to translate all of this in your mind into “I’M not good enough.” And, to be honest, I definitely fell captive to that lie but continuing to wallow in it really gets you nowhere. Thank God I have a wonderful community that knows how to lay down some foundational truth. I came into agreement that my abilities (or inabilities), my education, my experience, and eventually my career, does not define who I am. First and foremost, I am a daughter of a King who cares about my passions and wants to partner with me in making them come alive. I held on to His promise that I will, one day, become a nurse. This was a fundamental truth I needed to learn before stepping into a program as rigorous and time demanding as nursing. There will be times when my faith is tested and my identity is challenged, but I can rest in the fact that God’s love for me is unwavering with my circumstances and I will always be His daughter. Even when you feel like you are so ready to take on the next challenge, (for me it was nursing school) God may have more to teach you before He’s ready to give you that opportunity.

Even on a more practical note, His timing couldn’t have been more perfect. After applying each semester to the program, a life-event would come up that if I would have been in the program I may not have been able to give it my full attention and may even had to drop out.

I haven’t shared this testimony with many but feel like this is the right place for it. Around the time I had last started re-applying for different programs in the area, I had set a goal to apply to four programs– the more you can apply to, the better! One out of the four schools was requiring a pre-screening process. Which means, before you can even apply to the school, you have to go through a pre-screening process to get approved. They want to know your science grades, your experience in the field, your TEAS score (nursing test), etc. You accumulate so many points depending on your answers and when you have 65 points or more, you can apply. Needless to say, I was three points off. One thing did not match up. So I looked at my circumstances and said “well, I guess I won’t be applying there.” But I am learning not to look at my circumstances with arms up ready to give in. When you’re a child of God, you know God works behind the scenes on your behalf. He loves when the circumstances look impossible to you, then BAM!, he comes in and flips the script! A friend (who is very gifted in the prophetic) over heard me talking about my bind and gave me a prophetic word. She said, “Even though things may not match up with this school, you need to apply anyway and then sit back and wait.” I went home that night and submitted my application. Three months later, I got accepted to that very school.

I start my journey in the nursing program January 21st, 2014. I cannot wait to share the experience– the good, the bad, and the not-so-cute. I’ll try to capture my journey in photos as well. I’m a visual person so photos always complete a story for me. Let’s go.