#1 Trait Of Successful Nursing Students

The #1 trait nursing students must possess is hope, hope that they can and will be successful. I remember starting my nursing program prerequisite courses. I'd sit in my anatomy course thinking nothing but negative thoughts. I was 90% optimistic and 10% pessimistic, but the 10% was the loudest. I heard nothing but my inner voice telling me that I couldn't do this. Every morning, I had to remind myself of my goals and to remain positive. I had a post-it on my bathroom mirror as reinforcement. After my graduation, and even now as a clinical instructor, I heard and still hear the same stories from many nursing students. Countless students told me of the inner obstacles they faced, and the only thing that kept them focused on their future was hope. The hope that they would make it!

In the beginning, when you are acquiring the courses to even apply to nursing school, it might seem like an unachievable goal. Seeing all the required classes might be daunting and overwhelming - it sure was for me. It was a wall of things I hadn't done yet and I wasn't sure I could complete them. You might not be able to picture yourself on the other side of the wall, but you will. I get that being pragmatic is needed in life. I understand that realism is necessary in the world. But oftentimes, we as humans discourage any hope within us. We talk ourselves out of things before they even begin. New things are uncomfortable. The unknown is stressful but to grow, we must allow hope to flourish recklessly.

I never pictured myself being a nurse. I never imagined myself being a nurse practitioner. These were far-fetched goals, ideas in the back of my mind that I never let go of. It took my husband and me ten long years to conceive our son. He too was an idea. Doctors told us natural conception wasn't possible in my case. They told us that conceiving a child was highly unlikely. We heard nothing but these things. Yet we kept our hope, and we located a doctor who supported our idea. Hope is fragile, and you must protect it. Never let anyone displace it. Hope is the ability to stay true to yourself in the face of great adversity. Hope is everything yet nothing in particular. It means different things to different people, but we know exactly what it is and how it makes us feel.

So with that in mind, I want to spread the power of hope. Each goal starts out as an idea, and ideas stem from hope. Hope is healthy. Hope is living. Do not give up on wanting more even if you are at the starting point. I was a terrible cashier at McDonald's. I was a lousy server at Red Lobster. I'm not JLo. I can't be good at everything, haha. But nursing, I'm good at that (I think), and I love it. If nursing is your passion, never stop fighting. Don't allow others to diminish your hope, your community needs you. Keep going, you will get there.