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)...
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.
I really know where your coming from with this one! I've just looked at the module guide for my first year 2 module and its full of assignments, case studies and student led presentations- a big step up from last year!
ReplyDeleteGood luck, were 1/3 through! ;-)