All Work And No Play

I always knew second year was going to be hard (they’re not called the ‘second-year blues’ for nothing!), but I didn’t realise things would get quite so tough so quickly. The increase in workload has been somewhat of a shock to the system: currently I have four pieces of work to do, all with the same deadline, and each a different type of assessment. In addition, I begin my placement on Monday, and as you may or may not know with placements comes a whole different set of assessments and paperwork. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I'm stressed!

The problem is I have tendency to worry a lot (a fact you may have noticed!), and worry leads to stress, which in my case, then makes me worry more about the things I am stressing about. It’s kind of like being on a never-ending anxiety-fuelled merry-go-round, which isn’t as fun as it may sound!

The fact that I’m not even two months into my second year is yet another cause for concern, as I expect things will only get harder from here in. I understand that nursing is a hard profession, and that we need to be adequately prepared for what lies ahead once we qualify, but I’m genuinely starting to worry (I swear it’s like a hobby at this point!) about whether or not I have what it takes. Both third year and qualifying seem like an awfully long way away, and I know it’s gonna be a rough ride.

I fully accept that I do not help myself in these situations: I put too much pressure on myself; I concentrate on what I haven’t achieved or can’t do, instead of focusing on what I have achieved and can do; and I berate myself for having a night off from studying even though I've studied seven nights in a row.

Perhaps I should learn to take one day at a time and go a little easier on myself, or perhaps I just need a night off! One thing’s for certain, something’s gotta give.

Second-Year Fear

Three weeks into my second year and I’ve already got ‘the fear’. I’ve quickly come to realise that the expectations now placed upon me are much greater than they were in my first year. My seemingly unbreakable bad habits such as checking a bazillion books out of the library and then never so much as opening them, and researching my assignments as I write them were somehow sufficient enough to grant me a fairly-successful first year, but are not going to be enough to help me achieve that first-class honours I’ve firmly fixed my sights on. I quite simply have to buck up my ideas... which is obviously why I’m writing this blog article instead of writing my assignment. Aaarrgghh!

As if all that isn’t enough to make me pull my proverbial socks up, I keep recalling vivid memories of third-year students and newly-qualified nurses I’ve encountered along the way grimly informing me that ‘second year is the hardest year by far’. Of course I paid no attention at the time because I was a first year, and second year seemed soooo far away! How wrong I was! Now that I am a second year however, I guess I should come up with some sort of strategy to help me through what are probably going to be some pretty turbulent times. So here’s the plan so far (you may have guessed that I LOVE making lists by now)...
 

• Spend less time watching The Hotel Inspector and more time studying
• On a related note, finally admit to myself that watching Grey’s Anatomy does not actually equate to studying
• Devise a reward system for study-related achievements - let’s face it, probably involving cake
• Read something every day; not including my Facebook news feed or texts
• Achieve some semblance of work-life balance; starting with having at least one night out where I don’t talk about nursing the entire time, or end up recruiting for potential nurses, paramedics, HCAs etc
• Stop thinking that I am going to somehow kill a patient every second of every day whilst I am on placement
• Last but not least, just be the best that I can be. I am not the perfect student nurse, and I never will be. As long as I try my best, nobody can ask for more.