Did you know that many people choose not to go to nursing school because they feel they aren’t smart enough?! In addition, many people who are in nursing school consider dropping out because they feel like they aren’t smart enough. I think one of the reasons for this is because of the reputation of nursing school being “hard”. Yes, nursing school is hard and stressful (at times), but it isn’t something unattainable. If it were, we wouldn’t have any nurses.
Before I entered nursing school and while I was in the program, I most definitely felt these feelings, and may be you are feeling them too. May be you are having doubts about getting through the program because you are having a tough time, or maybe you didn’t do so well in high school so you don’t think you could make it in nursing school. Regardless of your situation, I am here to tell you that ANYONE can pass nursing school and become a nurse, if it is your passion and calling.
In this article, I want to encourage you and tell you that it isn’t a matter of being smart enough for nursing school, but it is about believing in yourself and going into the program with a positive attitude.
In this article, I am going to outline for you what you can do in order to overcome those feelings of not feeling smart enough for nursing school. If you prefer to watch me talking about this subject, here is a video for you to view. Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos!
What you can do:
- Everyone feels this way, seriously! I was in nursing school with valedictorians and people who had 4.0 (+) GPAs in high school and they even felt like they weren’t smart enough for nursing school and doubted themselves. Like I said I felt that way and almost switched my major (so glad I didn’t).
In addition, everyone I talked to who went to nursing school with me felt these feelings at some point. I think it is the way we cope we things that we feel we may “fail” in. We tell ourselves “well I better not go to nursing school because I might fail”.
- Don’t dwell on the negatives! Those thoughts of “I’m not going to make it” or “I’m not cut out for this” will at some point creep into your head while you’re in the program. They creeped into mine, but you have to push them out.
I have learned that if you go into something with a negative attitude you will get a negative outcome, but if you go into something with a positive attitude you will get a positive outcome!
- Transform negative thoughts into positive motivation! They say having anxiety is a good thing up to a certain point because it causes you to be more attentive and productive. I think this is the same with turning your negative thoughts into positive motivation.
You can transform your thoughts into positive motivation by increasing your study time and being more productive. Also, if you have people who doubt you or you doubt yourself, you can use those negative thoughts and say “I’m going to prove these people wrong”.
- Distance yourself from negative people! This is so crucial if you want to pull yourself out of the pit of negativity. If your family members or friends are a bunch of negative people, distances yourself from them while you are in nursing school. This includes people in the nursing program with you as well. I remember having some people in class with me that would constantly stress and talk about how hard the class was or how hard they heard the professor’s tests were and this would cause me to stress. Surround yourself with positive influences!
- We all enter nursing school knowing NOTHING about nursing! It is normal to feel like you are in over your head in nursing school, especially when you are being exposed to crazy sounding diseases, drug names, and tremendous amounts of material you must know for a test. You will learn this material over time and after you graduate you will learn that you still haven’t learned everything there is to know about nursing. It is a gradual process, so don’t beat yourself up!
Conclusion
I want to end with this great quote by someone.
“Failure is a stepping stone to success”
To me this means, we have to go through failures in order to get success. So if you are failing a nursing school or failed a test, it’s okay. Simply try again! Many great nurses have failed classes, exams, and the NCLEX.
Take the quiz on “Will I succeed in Nursing School?“