Pay It Forward

Since beginning work as an RN, I have had quite a few people ask me…”What made you decide to become a nurse?” 
For anyone who has been through or is in nursing school you know that in order to make it through, YOU have to want to be a nurse.  You can’t be there for anyone else or because someone else wants you to be.   YOU have to there for you and your dreams. 
In the beginning, I entered nursing school to keep a promise I had made to myself regarding a friend.  I wasn’t there because I necessarily wanted to be but rather because I felt obligated to be.   As the classes got harder and harder I quickly began to struggle because I wasn’t there because I wanted to be…
As the years went on I changed my life theme to “Nursing??? Why not, it’s not the worst job, and I have already put so much effort into it”.  This of course, wasn’t exactly wanting to be there but was more of a settling. 
I made it to my senior year without an actual true desire to be a nurse.  But that changed.
I began to struggle with an aspect in my life.  I was having trouble, and a friend stepped up and made sure that I was not alone during the hard time.  This friend was willing to push me when I needed pushing, as annoying as it was, was willing to let me figure things out for myself instead of just telling me what I should do…
Thanks to this friend I was able to make it through the struggle and through it all, I found my reason for wanting to be a nurse and helping people. 
My answer now when people ask me “Why did you decide to become a nurse?” is “Because once upon a time, someone helped me during a tough time, and made a change in my life.  And now that is what I want to do for others.”
Usually the next question to follow is “Do you like being a nurse?”  My answer I have found over the past months is, “While I have the rough days and the rough patients, it is worth it, because I get to make just a small difference in other people’s lives in their time of struggle”. 
It is rewarding to know that I am able to “pay it forward” and do what one friend took the time and energy to do for me.   And of course it doesn’t hurt that I am amazing at helping others (had to get that big ego in there somewhere)  ;)