Be Who YOU Want to Be

What do you want to accomplish in your life? Perhaps you have had a dream since you were little. Or you could have changed your mind multiple times much like I did. If I think back to my childhood animals were always a fond part of my life and I always had at least one pet. Therefore I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian during my elementary school years. Time went by and middle school came along and by this time I fell in love with the theater, I performed in plays and skits during my middle school years and right along in to my high school years.  However by this time I was on a mission to get done with school as fast as I could. I was taking college night classes after my high school classes and it turned out that the classes I was taking was paving my way toward a psychology degree. Did I want to be a psychologist not particularly but I thought “hey why not I already have all of these classes so let’s go with it” Fast forward to 2011 and BOOM I am a college graduate and I thought to myself what do I do now?

I am not going to lie this time was particularly hard for me because I had no idea what to do. My whole life at that point was defined upon the amount of time it took me to complete college. I graduated community college in 1 yr and UCLA a year and a half early. Although I accomplished this I really had no idea what to do next and the successful feeling I thought I was going to have was extremely short lived. During this time I thought back to my roots and thought about my love of helping people. I get a great sense of accomplishment and joy in my heart when I help another human being no matter how small the task is. Nursing was always a thought in the back of my mind but I thought it would be too hard for me. Although I was still scared I decided that I would give it a shot. As I mentioned before this time was extremely hard for me because I did not know who I was and where I was going in my life. Although I was an accelerated college graduate I didn’t really feel that accomplished.

 Looking back my mistake at this time was looking to others and comparing my current life status to theirs. Things that were extremely trivial were hard to deal with such as others getting engaged, moving in together or things that establish your independent status in life. It is extremely laughable now considering I was pretty much 20 at the time! Barely out of my teenage years yet I wanted to have a “adult life”. 

I was constantly thinking where am I going? Who am I? I knew at this time I was committed to my nursing prerequisites however this is all basic sciences and is just “good to know” background knowledge therefore I was not extremely happy with this waiting period. I wanted direction in my life but I proceeded with my prerequisites for a long year and a half. During this time although I was obtaining A’s in all of my classes I was constantly competing for the “better grade” with my peers. I always got A’s but I wanted to get a “better” A than my peers. I guess I was programmed to do this while I was at UCLA as you are fighting for your grades so I always wanted to go the best in the class.

Perhaps the time that I truly started to find myself was when I was accepted into my graduate school and was done with my prerequisites.  This was the beginning of the time I really found myself. I had just gotten into my first choice school and at the time I did not have any additional classes to take. My life was finally back on a “future” track where I knew I was going.  Fast forward to August of 2013 and I started nursing school, I was so excited yet nervous at the same time. I have always have had a hard time making new friends so I was worried about this however little did I know I did not need to worry about this at all. 

 

 

In my nursing program I can honestly say I have found the most honest, genuine, and kind people I have ever met. Each and every person is special to me and I love seeing my classmates day in and day out. We really are a family and I know we can get through this program with the help of each other. I am so happy and blessed.

The long drawn out message of this post it to not worry about impressing others and to just be yourself. During emerging adulthood I have discovered that we love to compare ourselves to others and often times we feel bad about ourselves if we have not accomplished a set amount of life goals that others have. DON’T DO THIS it will only bring you unnecessary anger and hurt that you are not at the “point” you want to be in your  life, instead embrace your success and what you have achieved in your life. Be who YOU want to be. It may take longer than you expect, however if you stick to it you can achieve all that you want to be.