I’m kinda obsessed with books.

I’m one of those people who can get completely absorbed in a good book, and any chance of pulling me out of my reverie will be almost impossible. If I’m being honest, and I am, I’m also one of those people who can become distraught with separation anxiety after I finish an extremely good book. I get that involved in the lives of the characters. And I’m absolutely, 100% okay with this part of me.

I also do not take book reviews lightly. So here is a collection of books in no particular order that I deem to be completely worth your time and even more worth the emotions that are to follow the books’ endings. This collection will constantly be a work in progress. And as I find a new one I really enjoyed, I will post about it on my main page to let y’all know!

• HARRY POTTER — [no explanation required. because duh.]
• Any book by Robin Cook or Jodi Picoult — Yes, I know this is a very broad group of books, but I love their collections and I just cannot pick one or two that I enjoy the most
  • I would recommend these books for someone who enjoys their reads to be based off of factual information and/or events that could actually occur
• Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray — Now, I read these books many years ago, probably far earlier than I should have. They’re definitely interesting… And different. If you’re interested in a book that is not like something you have read before, these just might be for you!
  • A Great and Terrible Beauty
  • Rebel Angels
  • The Sweet and Far Thing
• Overachievement by Dr. John Eliot — I have personally met Dr. Eliot and his lectures are so inspirational. I have blog posts that have blossomed from the way he makes me think about events and life. It isn’t a typical “reading” book, but still worth it.

Do you have a favorite book? I would love to hear about it! Comment below with title and author, and I might just read it [okay, I probably will]!

God is the only constant in this life.

My grandmother recently passed away after a long, painful struggle to fight off cancer that had invaded most of her body. I’m torn between feelings of sadness because she’s gone and this is really the first death close to me, but also of feelings of relief because she’s finally at peace, no longer in pain, but most importantly, with God in Heaven. On the day of her memorial service, my beautiful Godmother gave me a book called Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. If you haven’t heard of it (which I hadn’t), it’s devotions for every day of the year. There is also a free iPhone app and an iPhone app for $9.99! They’re all beautiful, but yesterday’s devotion really spoke to me, so I decided to share it with y’all.

Come to me continually. I am meant to be the Center of your consciousness, the Anchor of your soul. Your mind will wander from Me, but the question is how far you allow it to wander. An anchor on a short rope lets a boat drift only slightly before the taut line tugs the boat back toward the center. Similarly, as you drift away from Me, My Spirit within you gives a tug, prompting you to return to Me. As you become increasingly attuned to My Presence, the length of rope on your soul’s Anchor is shortened. You wander only a short distance before feeling that inner tug — telling you to return to your true Center in Me.

Hebrews 6:19; 1 John 2:28; Matthew 22:37

It’s easy to get caught up in the distractions of every day life as things change around you and life moves forward. But one thing will never change: the love God has for you. God is the only constant in this life. Everyone is going to have their own various daily activities to focus on, but the key is to always come back to your faith; come back to God. Some times it is easier than others. For myself, my faith is what keeps me centered. There are times that my faith unfortunately takes a backseat, but I can always find my way back. For every time I do venture away, my life becomes unbalanced and seems impossible, and I feel that tug to come back to my center, to my faith. Suddenly, everything seems that much easier. Anything is possible with just a little faith.

I am proudly Catholic. At one point in my life, however, I felt I couldn’t share this information about myself with anyone, simply because of the preconceived notions people seem to have about Catholics and the Catholic faith. There were times that I was even shamed for being Catholic or not the right kind of Catholic, which sadly resulted in my leaving the Church for some time. That has really changed for me. I realized that my whole life, values, beliefs, everything seemed to be based off of the Catholic faith. It took leaving to recognize this about myself. I understand some things we do are confusing, and different, but there is a reason! Every day, I become more and more comfortable sharing my faith with people, and I’m hoping to share with y’all as well.

Mid-year goal setting. Why not?

If I had to pick one thing I can’t stand most in this world… I would have a hard time deciding between liars and hypocrites. But I really want to talk about hypocrites. Specifically, nurses and other healthcare professionals that preach about healthy eating and exercise, but don’t actually follow those lifestyle behaviors. This kind of thing really gets to me. We need to be role models. If we can’t even eat right or exercise regularly, why should our patients? We need to set an example.

I eat fairly healthy. Well proportioned, rounded meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus occasional snacks of yogurt or almonds during the day. I don’t really eat out much or drink alcohol that often. And I rarely have soda (except the occasional Diet Strawberry Limeade from Sonic!). But honestly, I could exercise way more. I get a decent amount of steps in during the day (which I keep track of thanks to my fabulous pink fitbit zip!), but I by no means exercise in the way I should.

I WANT TO CHANGE THIS. So I’m setting a goal for myself: I will exercise at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week. I will probably start with a brisk walk, gradually add in some jogging when I can and my knees tolerate it, and hopefully get back to the days where I could run and be comfortable. If you can believe it… I actually once ran 5k a few times a year and I was on the track team. I barely believe it myself.

It’s going to take some adjusting, considering the brutal coursework that comes with nursing school. But my health has to be of the utmost important. Without my health, I couldn’t be a nurse. Without exemplifying a healthy lifestyle, I can’t ask my patients to do the same. I’m going to attempt to journal what I did, how I felt, or anything else I can think of and maybe blog about it every now and then. We’ll see. I’m going to need all the motivation I can get. (Cause boy is nursing school exhausting…)

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inspiration // The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

…I would have become a plumber

So my mother was recently in the hospital for a complete shoulder joint replacement. But that’s really not the point I’m going to make here. I’m going to talk about her nurse. Because as a nursing student, I have these perceived notions of what I expect from a nurse, and that includes myself. I picture someone caring, thoughtful, nurturing.. Basically motherly in all aspects of that regard, except for the childbirth. My mother’s two nurses were far from that.

One… well let’s just say her scrubs did not exactly fit her. Like.. At all. Every time she went to do anything, adjusting bed sheets, administering medications, taking vitals, etc., I saw her butt crack. More of it than I had ever hoped to see in my life. I mean honestly, if I wanted to see that much butt crack, I would have become a plumber. She was nice enough and all, but that just seems really unprofessional. Just buy some new scrubs!

Her night nurse was completely different, but a far worse nightmare. She was withholding medications. Including those that my mother must take on a daily basis. WHO DOES THAT?! It’s just wrong. On so many levels.

I don’t know if my parents reported either of them, but part of me wishes they would. Nurses have standards that must be upheld. It kills me to see current nurses fall short of those standards.

In other news! I have finished my first three weeks of lab clinicals. YAY! They are getting much more intense and much more exciting. Monday we worked with some student PTAs (physical therapy assistants) and learned various techniques to better allow us to maneuver our patients from point A to point B. A lot of the information we learned is going to be helpful, but there were a few things that nurses just can’t do. The PTA instructor was telling us to climb on the bed to assist a patient. Uhm yeah I’m not doing that unless that patient is coding or on the verge of some other kind of death and that’s the only way to save his or her life. The level of microorganisms that can be transferred because of that is alarming. Especially if we are doing this with each patient we see during the day. Talk about hospital acquired infections waiting to happen!

Tuesday was really exciting too. We got to work with SPs (standardized patients), which are basically paid people to act out symptoms as a patient. (We were told that they are not faking, they are simulating). So my partner and I gave a bed bath in the morning and changed the bed linens while the SP remained lying in the bed. That was in the morning. Then in the afternoon, we went back into the SP lab to take vital signs. What are the odds that we get the same SP! I guess they’re pretty good, but I don’t know the statistics on that. The funniest thing however, is that we were required to use the dual headed stethoscope (the ones where we can both listen at the same time) and neither of us could hear the blood pressure. We didn’t realize that though. We were both taking simultaneous vital signs without sharing, but when we left the patient room to compare, I got 128/82 and she got 130/80. How crazy is that!! We couldn’t believe the luck!

Haha anyways, here’s the most annoying part of my week. My shoes, which had been worn all of five times, have already started falling apart! The stupid heel is pulling away from the shoe! So I got a little creative and glued the heel back on with some Tacky Glue. Hopefully that works. It looks pretty janky right now.

Oh the joys and turmoils of a nursing student. Until next week, lovelies!

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 inspiration // I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. –Florence Nightingale

I’m practically a nurse!

Look at me! I’m a practically a nurse! (HAHA)

So here’s where the fun begins: I feel like a real nursing student now! We had our first two days of clinicals this week — yay! The first day was super stressful, just a warning. Trying to take someone’s blood pressure in a room with 25 other people all attempting to talk over each other is hard. Especially when they have very faint blood pressure sounds. After day one, I was extremely discouraged because I hadn’t really been successful in taking anyone’s blood pressure. I know it was only the first day, but I didn’t think it would be so difficult. Day two was a little easier, but not by much. It’s way easier to determine diastolic pressure than it is for systolic. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, the bottom number is easier than the top. I ordered a super adorable pink blood pressure cuff yesterday afternoon so I’m going to be practicing on people. I’m gonna get good at this, I swear. If you remember to last week, this was one of my fears. Failing. I’m definitely not giving up yet, but it’s pretty stressful. Oh, but I did learn that I’m very good at making up beds, whether people are in them or not. Woot!

Texas A&M Health Science Center – Traditional Class of 2016, all 51 of us (one is a boy!)

I also expected to be on the verge of becoming friends with some of the girls by now. I’ve never claimed to be great at making friends (I’m a little awkward, in case you didn’t know that about me), but I expected at least one or two to appreciate my quirks. Maybe it’s too soon for potential friendships to form. The hardest part for me has been trying to be more open and talkative. For once, I’m in a situation where I’m going to be with these people for the next two years, rather than a few months. Semesters always seemed daunting; trying to meet someone to be your friend but really only getting to spend actual time with them for a little while. Now there’s all this pressure. I’m totally over thinking this, I’m sure.

On a slightly less depressing note… I spoke up in class on Monday to explain something or another, and my prof told everyone that they should study with me because I’m a genius. Haha! That was so funny and felt pretty good, actually. I’m holding on to this memory, even if she was totally kidding.

I’ve decided to start a “thing”. Throughout my nursing student experience, I’m going to be using the hashtags #nursingstudentstruggles and #NSS — so for all the past, present, and future nursing students out there, feel free to join me in using these so we can share our experiences with one another! I would love to hear stories, fears, accomplishments, or anything!

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inspiration // “I can’t control you behavior; nor do I want that burden… but I will not apologize for refusing to be disrespected, to be lied to, or to be mistreated. I have standards; step up or step out.” ~ Steve Maraboli 

Oh HEY. I’m a nursing student!

Yeah you read that correctly. I’m officially one week into my first semester of nursing school! And this is what I’m already dealing with…

You are seeing that correctly. Five books for a five-week summer session. One is so big that I swear it weighs more than a small child. So far my schedule hasn’t been too hectic, but I have a very strong feeling that will be changing in September when the Fall semester begins. It’s daunting. There are no words. [I know someone who recently graduated. She told me her friend ended up in the hospital with heart palpitations because of the stress! OMGOSH.]

Somehow I always forget how much better writing out thoughts/feelings/mindless rambles makes me feel. I don’t understand myself sometimes. Does that even make any sense? I feel like I’m always saying that; sorry! But it’s true. I just keep forgetting. I’m definitely going to try to post at least once a week. Something interesting is bound to happen that doesn’t break any confidentiality laws. I’ve been trying to find a way to make sure I hold myself to this promise. Any ideas?

Well on the first day of class, we were asked to state what our worst fears were going into nursing school. Mine was that I’m afraid I’m going to be terrible at everything and just fail. I get that they wanted us to bond and whatever, but was a conversation about self-doubt really necessary on the  f i r s t  day? I don’t think so. But then I saw something on Instagram that made everything seem a little less worrisome…

How perfect is that? I have faith in God’s glorious plan for me. I’m confident that nursing school is the destiny He set out for me. But doubt is the Devil’s plaything. I just have to remind myself that if this isn’t what He wants for me, then life will change, and I have to be okay with that. I have the support of some amazing Godly people who will help me when changes seem impossible. So for now, my motto is this: Just have faith. I think I can manage that one.

inspiration // “Those whose steps are guided by the Lord, whose ways God approves, may stumble, but they will never fall, for the Lord God holds their hand.” ~ Psalm 37:23-24