Dear Nursing Grads

Congratulations! You did it! You have taken on one of THEE biggest challenges and owned it — You’ve graduated nursing school. People outside of our “community” will never understand the hard work, the consecutive sleepless nights, the tears, the celebration when you receive a 75% on an exam, the friendships that are built during clinical (“hey, you hold his butt cheeks while I clean.“), but most importantly, the commitment. Nursing school has a way of building character and humbling the self-righteous. No one leaves the same. I believe that God selectively chooses these women and men for this career. It’s not just a title and it’s definitely not for anyone. When you’re a nurse, it’s not for the money; the salary is essentially a bonus. The real gratification comes from knowing that you put a smile on someone’s face. Knowing that you were apart of saving someone’s life. Knowing that you did your absolute best and you did every task with the best intentions, even if the end result wasn’t what you hoped for. Empathy is the key to everything we do. It allows us to be the great advocates that we are for our patients regardless of their color, gender, age, or physical ability. Being able to witness how far love, gentleness, and understanding can go is the greatest gift that we can receive. Agitated or uncooperative patients are just people that are misunderstood and scared. It is our duty to get them to trust in us even when it’s difficult to do so. We live in a world where everyone is defensive because we are constantly dealing with judgement and misinformation, but we as nurses are seasoned to not only be nonjudgmental in our work place, but in all aspects of our lives going forward. We’re in a habit of a lot of things actually, like singing happy birthday every time we wash our hands. Anyway, now that the school part is over (or not) start preparing for work. Don’t be nervous, skeptical, or underestimate yourself. You’re going to be amazing!

Tips:

Create a study plan for the NCLEX. I purchased UWORLD for 30 days. They give you an option of 60 days as well, but in my opinion you don’t need that much time. I completed 1,000 questions and did both predictors. It’s pretty spot on so study those rationales and you will be fine.

Take a break. After pinning, my mom gifted me with a 2 week vacation to France and Morocco. I was a bit nervous at first because I felt I should have taken my nclex before, but no! You’ve been in school for too long, you owe yourself some peace of mind.

Make sure your resume is on point!

Make sure your outfits for interviews are both appealing and professional.

Go over some interview questions! You do not want to stumble when they ask you to list your skills. You have so many qualifications, but all you can think of is wound care. Girrrrl.

Reconnect with family and friends. It’s been forever. They’ve supported you throughout your journey so they definitely deserve to see you and be in your company again. Don’t let the nclex or anything for that matter distract you from the people and things you love and enjoy.

Good luck 💋

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A Solution To Our First World Crisis

First world problems: ordering a pair of shoes online and having to wait the full 7 days for delivery, temporarily losing power after a storm and not knowing how to function, video buffer speed being way too slow, oh and God forbid we lose our Snapchat streak. As a child for me it was asking my parents for McDonald’s on our way home from anywhere and being told no because there was already food at home. I’d have a meltdown. “I don’t want that — I want a happy meal!” Most of the time, I’d convince one of them, but the gag was I’d only have a bite of the burger and a few fries before I was entirely distracted by a Furby.

(90’s babies, take a minute to bask in nostalgia)

Now that I’m older, I realized how immensely spoiled I was. Both my mother and father worked hard for everything we had, but we were not rich. There were bills to be paid and mouths to be fed, but somehow my siblings and I were always given the world on a silver platter. Why? We already had everything we truly needed — the things that mattered (basics, according to American standards, of course). It’s a luxury to complain about many of the things we do today. While refusing a blessing we may consider insignificant, someone somewhere is fantasizing about the same thing we had a choice to say no to.

If you’re a New Yorker, born and raised, like I am, there is a high possibility that your parents or grandparents aren’t and are actually from a foreign country. My parents are both carribean and although I haven’t been to their native island yet (I know… what am I waiting for?!), I’ve learned to love the culture and embrace a great deal of it. I’ve learned everything except the struggle. So much of what they tell me is hard to even imagine going through. They came to the United States to give their children a better life and better opportunity, and that they did. But how do you instill true gratitude in children who live such a opportunistic lifestyle where everything is handed to them? Thankfully, I was taught at a young age to not place too much value on anything replaceable, but I still had my share of moments where I was completely blinded to the idea that there was someone whose circumstances made mine look like a joke.

There are so many factors that has played a part in my growth, but the most recent has been a trip I took this past summer to Morocco, located in North Africa. Above all, it’s one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been to. The people, the aesthetics and its history are all so captivating. One morning my mother and I headed to the grand souk in Marrakech and let me tell you, the market is literally so big that you could get lost hundreds of times. There are men who are legally permitted to guide tourist for a small fee, but we were unaware of that until we came across this particular someone. We had gotten lost and asked him to show us where the entrance was and he knew we wouldn’t know how to get there with a verbal explanation, so he explained that he would walk ahead of us and that we shouldn’t be offended. After about 10 minutes of turning many corners we finally arrived and as he began to walk off, I stopped him, gave him a hug and asked if there was anything he wanted. He politely declined, but I felt inclined to show gratitude for going completely out of his way. Finally, he asked for a meal and my heart jumped with joy because I was able to do something for such a humble, beautiful being.

It’s so important to take a few moments everyday to ground ourselves, to practice humility and to not be scared of being transparent. Humbling ourselves will keep God from having to do it for us. Everything we have, regardless of what it may be exactly, has to be appreciated because it can be taken away at any moment. So many people are living lives without all of the nonessential things we place so much value on and are more whole than we are. This is because they’ve found worth in what is irreplaceable.

Take a moment to reflect on the simpler things that have a significant effect on our lives. The best things in life can not be bought or replaced. Place your focus on those things.