What do you hope to accomplish this year? Any goals or aspirations? How does this apply to your future career or schooling?
This year, I aspire to cultivate positive mental health by investing my time, energy, and effort into resources that can help me achieve this goal.
Right now, I am at a crossroads in my personal and professional development. As I look to the future, I see much potential in the person and nurse that I want to become. My personal potential lies in understanding myself as an individual, cultivating the relationships I want to grow and maintain beyond college, and expressing appreciation for the people that have helped me on my journey thus far. As I am beginning to dive deeper into the nursing program, I realize that my experiences are gradually shaping the lens in which I view the nursing profession and will provide me with a solid foundation to ground myself in the type of nurse I want to be.
Despite the potential for growth, however, I see many challenges that lie ahead. With the upcoming HESI, increasing workload, and daunting junior year on the horizon, this provides an opportune situation for fear, anxiety, and doubt to manifest. In the past, I thought that it was easier to simply ignore this; however, it created a situation where the buildup of my thoughts turned into debilitating physical reactions that reduced my overall quality of life. Thus, positive mental health is a critical component towards my success and well-being. With the support of the people in my life, I have been able to access resources and cultivate practices that have helped immensely. This includes creating a space to meditate, reserving time to catch up with friends, and attending therapy. I realize now that if I want to achieve a truly sustainable amount of balance and success, the energy and effort that I put into my academics and schoolwork needs to be adjusted proportionately.
Every day provides an opportunity to actively shape who I want to become. To do this, I need to invest in myself and my mental health. This year, I am ready to focus on that and am optimistic that taking care of myself will greatly help me as I pursue a career caring for others.