This is my first year at college and my first time being back in a classroom since March 13, 2020. At lot has changed since then, we have to wear masks in the classroom now, we have to socially distance, some of us may even have to quarantine. The big change in my life since the COVID-19 pandemic was that I discovered I wanted to go into healthcare. When COVID began and I slowly saw all the people falling ill to this virus, and even when I got the virus, I knew what I wanted to do. I’m a nursing major on the route to become a nurse practitioner, and let me tell you that I am terrified thinking about the future.
Being in the nursing program is extremely intimidating and challenging, and honestly, I don’t know if I can do it. I’ve heard the horror stories from current students and graduate students saying that they have no social life, they’re so stressed out, they spend 40 hours a week studying and my mind goes blank. I think to myself, did I make the right choice? Am I going to regret this decision? I think about the program and my classes all the time. No matter how much I push it away or try to calm myself down, I am still absolutely terrified.
Now that the first week of school is over I feel a little at ease. Most of my professors understand what I’m going through being that they have been there themselves. I’ve found out that all of my classmates are on the same page as me when it comes to being overwhelmed and not knowing how to feel. It made me realize that I’m not alone in this and that everyone else around me feels the same way. Everyone else around me is going through what I’m going through, even my professors went through what I am going through. It gives me a peace of mind knowing that if they can do it, so can I. When I think about that, suddenly I’m not as terrified.
