Im not going to begin by telling you i have always wanted to be a nurse because I didn’t!
When i left school i had no idea what i wanted to do, i followed the trend of my friends and signed up for beauty therapy. Don’t get me wrong i enjoyed it, but mainly getting to meet new people, not the beauty side, I didn’t fit into this niche, I didn’t care about wearing make-up everyday or having my nails done nice, it just wasn’t me.
Once college was finished I got a job as a community carer which i really enjoyed. Unfortunately, at this time my grandma became unwell and required care, she was 101, stubborn and refused to be cared for by strangers (fair enough!) so me and my mum stepped in and provided her care. In March 2012 whilst sill caring for my grandma i secured a job as a healthcare assistant on an acute medical unit, and you could guarantee id finish a night shift jump into bed and my grandma would press her pendent alarm so off id go!
My grandma passed away in January 2013, and it was after this i was determined to do my nursing degree, but this is where i became stuck. I didn’t do A levels at college so I needed to do further studying before i could apply. Myself and my fiancé were living together and we had bills to pay so I opted for an access to nursing course which was done fully online. It was a lot of work studying whilst working full-time, but that goal of going to university made it all possible.
Fast forward to September 2014 and there I am rocking up to university, that’s it i am officially a student nurse. Did i enjoy university, did i heck! I was so used to learning online and had just focused on learning to pass assignments, i actually didn’t know how to study. The academic side of university was really challenging, but the practical placements is where i thrived, i was able to learn better when i could apply the knowledge to a patient i was looking after and understanding why certain treatments where given.
It wasn’t until my third year of university where i really understood how to write an assignment in the way they wanted it written to get good grades, the previous two years i took every opportunity to go to ‘writing cafes’ where they would look over your essays and tell you where your going wrong and how to improve.
Skipping ahead to May 2017, my mum became very ill, she was unfortunately diagnosed with terminal lung cancer which had already metastasised at diagnosis. I was literally two months away from qualifying and on my last placement. I took a week away from placement to be with my family but I was so ready to just quit because I didn't think I could face it. But, I remember the words that came from my mums mouth the minute her diagnosis was told to us, and they were “don't you dare bloody quit, you are finishing your degree”.
It was a stressful couple of months having to deal with lots of appointments and treatment plans for mum and then getting signed off as competent to be a nurse, but I did it, July 2017 I qualified as a nurse.
In the August I started as a qualified nurse on an acute medical unit and I absolutely loved it. I was fortunate that my final placement was also done on this ward and I had a placement here in my second year so I knew the team well and they were so supportive. It was during my staff nurse role that I developed my love for helping student learn, I absolutely loved the days when I had a student nurse by my side so I could teach them and help them become confident in their abilities. Due to this, I became a bank clinical skills demonstrator at the university I went to. This is where my idea for nerdy nurse came from, to make learning easier for others, it began as an educational instagram platform which I absolutely lovely content creating for and meeting new people through it. A year or so after, I began selling my resources on Etsy as everyone was asking for them, but now it has grown so much here I am with my own website and I am also very close to opening up my own membership site.
I now currently work as an advanced nurse practitioner within neurology which is absolutely amazing. If someone had told me I would be an ANP within 5 years of qualifying I would have laughed at them, but here I am, living my absolute dream. It definitely hasn't been the easiest of journeys, but I hope this goes to show that not everyones journey is straight forward and everyone is on a different path to get to their dreams.
You can do this.