The 3 Biggest Mistakes You're Making In Nursing School (That You Don't Know About Yet!)

Hey there, friend Christina here with nursing schoolofsuccess.com and today I just wanted to have a sit down, real conversation with you about some of the top mistakes that you are probably making in nursing school. And I also know I put in the title that there are things that you haven't heard of before. I don't feel like anybody's talking about this, so I just wanted to have a real conversation with you today just to bring them to light, because I feel like it's something that you're seriously struggling with, because I know that I was in nursing school, so I want to talk about it and help you through it. So here are three mistakes that you're probably making in nursing school that you haven't heard about before and maybe just haven't noticed yet. Now, the first mistake for nursing school that I want to talk about is having a anxious or cluttered mind. Now, how often do you think about your thoughts? Like, how often do you actually think about what you're thinking about? When I started having this realization in nursing school, I think I was right around halfway through and which is unfortunate because I feel like it would have been so valuable when I first started nursing school. So as I was being more aware of this idea that I could control my thoughts and, and that I was actually being more conscious about what I was thinking about, I realized how much time I spent being anxious in my mind, having negative thoughts, and almost kind of like having a busyness or cloudiness to my brain. My brain was just running rampant, out of control. So do you do this too? This might look like for you, things like you're driving to class and you're stressing about this paper that's due the care plan that you've got next week. Your nursing instructor said one thing. The drama happening with your classmates in nursing school, your mind is just running rampant. And you think all of those things are true. And even though it's just your brain making up stories in your mind and kind of like that, you know, the doomsday thing, like everything is wrong, everything's going wrong, that's kind of that anxiety, right? Or it could look like this. This was a big one. When I would sit down to write a paper or care plan or do something, I was trying to be productive and I would go and, you know, start writing. And in the back of my mind I would be thinking about, man, you know, I have like all this other stuff to do. Like, I know I have to focus on writing this paper, but I've also got this Care plan. And I've got this, you know, this exam coming up, and what am I gonna have time to study with that? Or. Or it could even be in your sleep. So when you wake up from your sleep and you're already stressing about nursing school, for me, I know that that's a huge part of my anxiety, is actually having anxious thoughts while I sleep. It's kind of this inability to rest, because when I was trying to rest or trying to relax, I always found myself in that anxious state. I would wake up feeling less refreshed than when I went to bed because I feel like I had just spent eight hours just stressing over what I had to do for nursing school. So those are kind of the things, the ways that it might manifest for you. Those are the ways that it manifested for me, and I'm thinking that it might be true for you as well. So I wanted to bring this to your attention, and this is something that I've been working on a lot lately with myself, is that anxiety is formed based on your thoughts. And here's the kicker. Here's what I want you to know, is that you can change your thoughts. So, yes, anxiety seems out of control and hard to reel in and hard to control. But when I have finally started to understand that anxiety is actually caused by those thoughts that I'm having, like when I was writing a paper or a care plan, you know, I would sit down and have all these thoughts in my mind, like, oh, my gosh, this might not be the most productive thing to do, or I have this exam to study for. Now, looking back, those are just thoughts in my mind. It doesn't make them true. Even though you have a thought, it does not make it true. So sitting and writing your paper is the. Could be the most productive thing that you can do in that moment. So. But your brain might tell you that you've got a gazillion other things to do. Try to focus in your thoughts. Just notice those thoughts. That's step one is just to notice the thoughts that you're having, those negative thoughts about all that anxiety and all that stress and all those things. So step one is just to notice those thoughts. And then step number two, that I have really been starting to implement in my own life is to once I've noticed that that thought is there, that I'm having those anxious thoughts is to just say to myself, and thinking this thought now, I was just talking to my brother the other day about this. He's reading a book. I think it's Called the Happiness Trap. I have not read it yet, but he's reading it and he really likes it. And he was telling me this kind of idea, which I'm starting to implement in my own life. I've heard it from other sources as well. It's just when you're thinking these negative thoughts, when you're noticing that those thoughts are coming up for you, those anxious thoughts, is to actually think to yourself, I'm thinking this thought. So if you are actually writing that paper and you have a thought saying, I have a whole bunch of other studying things to do, you know, you can actually say to yourself, I'm thinking, I have a whole bunch of other studying things to do. It doesn't seem like it's that big of a deal, but friend, it is. The more that you do this, it kind of separates yourself from that thought. So it makes it almost less real. So even though your brain is telling you, oh, my gosh, this is a disaster, I have so many things going on. Like, your brain is just running wild when you start to notice those thoughts and say, okay, I'm thinking that this is a disaster. I'm thinking that I have so much to do. I'm thinking that, you know, I don't have enough time to write this care plan for next week. When you start noticing those thoughts and saying, I'm thinking that I'm thinking this thought, it really starts to separate out your emotions about it. So rather than getting all up in a tizzy and going crazy and, you know, letting that thought run wild in your mind, it's actually really a good way to control it and bring it in and to then move on to the next step. And the next step of this that I really want you to try is to. Once you've noticed the thought, you've identified it as just a thought and. And you've placed that in its little cage. I'm going to say it's little thought cage. Like you've told yourself, I'm having this thought. So I'm thinking this thought. And then remind yourself how far you've already come. This was huge for me in nursing school when I was studying to take an exam or when I was, you know, trying to prepare for clinical. It is extremely nerve wracking, extremely nerve wracking to go through nursing school. And, you know, because you've had. You have all these responsibilities, it's just a lot of weight on your shoulders. Like, friend, I totally get it. So it really helped me to look back at my past and say, christina, you have made it this far already. I heard this quote somewhere. I think it was on Michael Hyatt's podcast. I don't know if you listen to him, but it's so, so good. He's all about productivity and being more productive and efficient in your life. And I just love, love all his stuff. It's Michael Hyatt, and I think I heard this from him. So you have a 100% success rate in getting through hard times. I don't think that's the exact quote. It might be, but I don't think that's the exact quote. But it's something to that effect that. Just remember that you have 100% success rate in getting through all of the failures you've had, all the anxieties that you've had, all the trials that you've had in your life. You are here right now. You have a 100% success rate in getting through those hard times. And that, for me, really helped me trust myself more and just realize that, okay, I. I am probably more capable than I realize. I can get through this. It just gave me more confidence in myself to know that, yeah, I got through my prereqs in nursing school. You know, I got through all these. All these tough things that I faced, and I can do this. So those are kind of the three steps that I want to encourage you to try out. So step number one is just notice that you're having those anxious thoughts. And then step number two is to actually tell yourself, okay, I'm thinking this thought, so I'm thinking, I don't have enough time to write this paper. Or I'm thinking that I can't create a. A nursing goal. Or I'm thinking that I'm not going to have enough time for sleep. You know, things like that. So separate yourself out from that, that anxious thought by saying, I'm thinking about this. And then step number three is to just remember everything else that you have achieved thus far. It's almost kind of looking back at your life and being grateful. There's a lot of research. You know, you've probably heard this. There's a ton of research out there about gratitude and how that can help decrease stress and anxiety because it's very, very difficult, if not impossible, to be grateful and anxious at the same time. So by looking back at your past and saying, wow, I really did that. Like, I really did that. Like, I got through my prereqs. I got through, like, those really hard times, man, if I did that, I can do this. I can do this. So those are really the three steps that I really, really encourage you to try out. And let me know if you try these out. Let me know in the comments what you think. How did it go for you? I would love to hear about it because this has been really, really game changing, so life changing for me over the past. I mean, I've been working on this for a while on my anxiety. As you may have already known, I've gone through a lot of work on my anxiety through nursing school and especially after nursing school, kind of trying to reel that in. So, man, do I know something about anxiety. But this is a constant work for me. And so I would love to know how these steps work for you. So let me know in the comments if you try them out this week. Let me know how they work for you. Now, the second mistake that you are probably making in nursing school and something that you, I, I can just about guarantee that you have not caught on to yet is creating drama in your life. And I'm not talking about the relational drama with nursing school classmates. I know, I hear about that a lot. That does kind of fall into this category because I think it's a consequence of what I'm about to talk about. But I'm talking about drama in your brain. If your brain is cluttered with all of the thoughts about I'm not good enough. I hear these a lot from nursing students is, why should I try when I'm just going to fail anyway? That is drama that you are creating in your mind that you're not good enough. You're just gonna fail anyway. That is so dramatic. I know it's hard. It's tough to like, think about that. That's actually drama. But it, but it is. It's a dramatic statement that you were saying in your mind. You're creating drama in your life by saying, I'm just going to fail anyway. So when you're having those thoughts and creating that drama in your mind and in your brain, you feel out of control. It doesn't feel like you are choosing to procrastinate, but you are. You are choosing to procrastinate on your paper and you're thriving on the drama that that creates. That procrastination in and of itself is then creating breeding more negativity in your mind and more drama in your mind. And it makes sense. I mean, that's what, that's what I used to do. And I know that a lot of people do thrive on that drama, but over time, it will spiral you out of Control. And especially for nursing school, I don't. This is probably true for you if you. I often describe nursing school as you feel like a shell of yourself, because all of the stress and. And pressure that you're under in nursing school really makes you feel like a completely different person. Like you were a totally different person than you were before you started nursing school. It's just incredible, the amount of stress and pressure that it puts on you and how that can change almost your entire personality. And this is one way that it does that is it just breeds drama and anxiety in your mind. So those are kind of some ways that you. You can tell that you're bringing more drama into your life, as if you're procrastinating on things like writing your paper or your care plan, or even procrastinating on paying your bills or, you know, leaving things to the last minute, or you're just being overly dramatic about the things that are happening, the circumstances that are in your life, the environment, or things that are going on. Like, you get really up in arms about something that a nursing instructor said or something your classmates did. I mean, you create just so much drama around the circumstances of your life. And I know that this is so hard to notice because I honestly, I don't think I probably noticed it in nursing school. But it is so detrimental to your, really, your brain and your mindset. Because if you're constantly in that negativity and that clutter and worried about what she said or what your nursing instructor did or this or that or procrastinating, then you're not spending your brain power on doing the things that matter, which is studying and learning and enjoying nursing school, which, yes, you can enjoy nursing school. You just have to push past all of these mindset blocks and all of these mistakes that I see nursing students make. So remember what we said before. Thoughts are a choice. You do not have to think thoughts about procrastination or think thoughts about that person's a bad person because of what she said, or, you know, that instructor is rude because of what they did. You know, don't bring that negativity or that drama into your brain. Just move past it, Let it roll off. Focus on what you have going on in nursing school, because that is enough to focus on, right? You've got so much going on. Just focus on the things that you have to do. So do not waste your wonderful brain power on focusing on the wrong things. And now the next one that I want to talk about is quitting the comparisons. This one I wanted to talk about, because I just watched another YouTube video, and this girl was talking about how her nursing program is a competitive football field. I mean, it just sounded, like, so. So negative. Which tells me that I think that it's probably not. It's probably not that way. I think we all just think it's that way. But when we step back and look at it logically, it's not. So in your nursing program, you might think that your instructors are pitting you guys against each other, but that's actually not true. So, yes, you may have had to apply to your nursing program, and maybe you were in competition with students before you got into your nursing program because there's only a few slots, but once you're in nursing school, it's not like you're competing for, like, the top 10 spots to graduate. No, like, everyone can graduate. Everyone can graduate if they want to and if they work hard and if that's what God wants. So everyone in your program has an equal chance of graduation. So it's not a competition. Like, you're not pinning instructors are not pinning you against the other classmates. I don't know. I just thought this was this crazy idea. We did have this slightly in nursing school, but only for, like, a minute. Like when, like, the first week of nursing school, you kind of have that. We kind of had that feeling because we came out of those prereqs, and our school was really competitive, like all nursing schools are, and it was difficult to get over, but thankfully, we had great instructors that really encouraged us to get over that. I really encourage you to support each other and maybe just to take a step back and come to the reality that even though you might think that that's what's going on, that that's actually probably not what's happening. Even though it feels that way, like, I totally get that. It feels super crazy, super negative, and super terrible in nursing school. Like, nursing school can be the worst. Do not get me wrong, Nursing school can be the worst. So. So I totally get that it feels that way to your core, but just because it feels that way doesn't make it true. Just because you have a feeling about it. Just because you have a thought about it doesn't make it true. So take a step back logically. Like, assess the situation like a nurse does. Assess everything going on and really see, is this actually a competition? No. And then, therefore, since it's not a competition, what can I do to help support my friends? What can I do to help support my peers and my classmates? This is what I recommend, I really recommend that you find somebody in your nursing program who has different strengths than you. So you will have different strengths than someone else. And this is really where comparison comes in. We think that we have to be good at everything when in reality nobody is good at everything. Like God gave us our spiritual gifts for a reason. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. That's how we were designed. So, and it's such an amazing thing because then we're able to support each other as we go along. So I always like to give this example because me and my best friend in nursing school, we had very different strengths and weaknesses. So she was extremely good at clinical and skills labs and I was not. So I, we, in our program, we got like three times to pass a skill and every single time I had to take it at least one time over again. So we would get three times and I would fail the first time every time or I would have to take it even a third time. So it was terrible. I was, I was. Skills were just not my forte. I'm totally fine with that now, but skills were just not my forte. On the other hand though, I was super good at pathophysiology and med surge and learning the lecture content. I mean, that's why we have our nursing SMS membership community right now, is because that's what I'm good at. This is my gifting. That's how my brain is wired. I'm really, really good at what? At taking those concepts and breaking them down into smaller bite sized pieces to help explain it to people and make it a lot more simple. Like that is my spiritual gifting. So I would help her with the lecture content and then she would help me with skills. So it was really, we would support each other. It was not a competition. We would just support one another in our strengths so that we were pulling each other up in an area that we were weak, weaker in. So I really recommend that you find somebody in your program that you can help support. So find somebody with some strengths that maybe are your weaknesses or find somebody who's maybe weaker in an area that you can help them out with. You know, be a friend to everybody, make sure that you are supporting each other, encouraging each other through this process because it is not a competition, friend. I know, I know. So, so hardcore. I get it that it really, really feels like it's a competition and it really, really feels like you are completely burned out, completely stressed and you are like under the boulder of nursing school, like nursing school boulder, you are crushed. So that's what it feels like. It feels like you are just a shell of yourself. Like we said that you are a completely different person. Like, your personality in nursing school is not who you usually are simply because you have all this stress on your shoulders and all this pressure and all this weight on your shoulders. So I want you to stop the comparison. I want you to stop comparing yourself to the other students and stop acting like it's a competition. And that will change your environment around you. That will change your thoughts about it. That will change how you perceive it. And so, like we said, those thoughts end up becoming your action. So whatever you're thinking is what you are going to act on, and you can change your thoughts. So make sure, like we said, follow those steps. I would love to know if those steps help you out. Notice your thoughts. When you. When you think that thought, put, I'm thinking this thought, you know, in front of that thought. So if you're thinking, you know, I can't. I don't have enough time to get a diet done, tell yourself, okay, I'm thinking, I don't have enough time to get it done. That will help you to really separate away from that negativity of that thought. So really, really, really try that out. Stop the comparisons in nursing school. So, friend, I know this was a longer video than normal. I was so excited, though, to sit down with you and talk about these three mistakes that you might be making in nursing school, because I know that I made these mistakes. So. And I know that if I were to go through it again now, I would do it completely different than I did before. You know, every single day, we're. We get better and better. You know, we grow every single day. Hopefully we want to be growing and getting better every single day. And if I. It's kind of that cliche. If I knew then what I know now, I would do it completely differently. So I wanted to share this with you to hopefully fully encourage you to do it like I would have done it, you know, in this way, not feeling so anxious and so overwhelmed and so stressed, because it is possible. I mean, I know students. I literally know several students who love nursing school, and I really did. I loved nursing school. There were definitely aspects about it that were not my favorite, but I feel like for the most part, I did maintain a pretty good positive attitude through it, and I know people that do even better with that. So I know students who just flat out love everything about nursing school, and I love that about them. Because you know what? That's a choice. It's a choice to be joyful. It's a choice to be happy. Happiness is not just something that happens. It's a choice based on your thoughts in your brain so you can change those thoughts in your brain like we talked about. So so if you are constantly getting stuck in that negativity, try to, like we said, separate yourself out from that negativity. And I'm not saying to make it all sunshine and rainbows right away. Like, no, that's not, you know, that might not happen, but at least try to notice that you're having those negative thoughts and know that it is possible to be happy in nursing school. Because, friend, it is totally, totally possible. So I hope this video helped you out. I know it was a little bit longer than normal, but I hope you found it valuable. I was so happy to talk about this. And like I said, let me know in the comments if you try those steps to help reel in your thoughts and kind of decrease that anxiety. I would love to know if that worked for you and how your experience went. So let me know down in the comments what your experience was with trying out those steps and what you thought about it. And I would love to chat with you. So I hope you have a great rest of your week and I hope you have a great weekend and we'll chat soon. Take care. Bye.