The Starting Line

Well, hello there!  

Welcome to my humble little blog, born out of a desire to re-engage with writing as a creative outlet, and to share my experiences as a nursing student who runs to stay sane. Tomorrow at crack of dawn I become a student again and begin the long process of becoming a registered nurse. While I've heard nothing but good things about the program I'm about to start, I fully expect that it will make me cry, make me doubt myself, push me to my limits, and be one of the most challenging things I've ever done.  

I am terrified.

I'm terrified of so many things (What if I faint and/or vomit the first time I have to deal with [insert bodily fluid of your choice]? What if I get a crotchety Nurse Ratched-esque preceptor? And - ohmygod - what if I kill someone?), but right now one of the things I'm most worried about is that I will be unable to balance the demands of nursing school with the non-nursing school parts of my life. I already feel like things are a bit out of balance and I haven't even started the program. The past few weeks have been jam-packed with preparations for my new adventure - CPR re-certification, respirator mask fittings, shopping for scrubs, the 23 (no, that's not a typo) chapters of pre-reading that were assigned for one class, transforming our spare bedroom from Craft Room Extraordinaire into Study Central, and countless other little "to-do's" that just seemed to eat up my days. Throw in a whole bunch of shifts at work and some wedding planning and you have a girl who is exhausted before the real work has even begun.

I know that the focus of my life is about to shift dramatically. I won't be able to do as much pleasure reading because I'll be busy reading textbooks. I won't be able to dedicate as much time to making handmade Christmas cards because I'll be studying for exams. I might have to adjust my expectations about how much time and effort I can put into training for races. I probably won't be able to see my family and friends as much as I would like to. I know that nursing school is about to take over a large part of my life, but I am fiercely determined to not lose those other pieces of me - the running piece, the creative piece, the social piece - in the process.

Which brings me to this blog. My hope for this blog is that it will help me find a balance between all those pieces of my life. I want it to not only be a place for me to process all the emotions and experiences that I go through in my training to become a nurse, but to also be a creative outlet, a place for me to share my love of running, and a way for me to keep in touch with family and friends when I get busy. (And who knows, I might even make some new friends along the way. I've already got one page view from Germany. Keep reading, Germany!)

And with that, I'm off to try and calm the butterflies in my stomach and to take my place at the starting line of the marathon I'm about to begin.

Ready, set, go. Right foot, left foot, repeat...