Sleep, or the lack thereof

I am so tired today. I woke up 1 hour and 20 minutes ago (at 7:30), and I am already planning on taking a nap as soon as I am done with work. I am planning on taking that nap downstairs, on a couch in a public area. Because I am so tired that I don't even care.

What sucks is that I have an exam today. And exam that I am so unprepared for. And an exam in a class that is really hard. But whatever. Lets talk about something a little bit more interesting than that...

I have been watching American Horror Story lately. Its soooo freaking good! Last night I met some friends at the library, but before I could go, I had to get an episode of AHS in. And let me just say, it was so worth it!

This weekend will hopefully be really good. My housemate Ryan and I were talking about going to this art show that someone we know is putting on. And its in a town that is not New Brunswick. So that will be awesome. I could really use a change of scenery.

Annd thanksgiving break is next week!!! Holey poop I am so excited. Its sad because I am not even really planning on doing much. I just want to sleep and lay in my bed. But I'll try and squeeze an adventure or two in. Like hanging out with my beaaautiful friend Michelle, who I have been too busy to even keep in touch with!

When did this become a nursing blog?

I started this blog to talk about my life and goals and adventures. And to inspire some sort of growth fashion-wise. But this blog has just become a list of rants, mostly about nursing. But I guess that is just what I need in my life right now. I hope one day it can become something more.

So today I was really stressed about the pharm exam that I have on Thursday. Well, actually I have been stressed about it since the weekend. But today I finally decided to do something about it. I decided to study! And currently, I have been sitting in the same chair for almost 4 hours. I've listened to 3 entire albums.

I listened to Bastille's Bad Blood which was amazing. I had to take some breaks from studying to bop my head and leg because their drums are so intense at some points. And I love that shit.

After that, I randomly decided to listen to the entire Imagine Dragons Night Vision album. Which I barely remember. I guess that means it was just okay. I wasn't a huge Imagine Dragons fan to begin with.

Annnd, I just finished listening to Of Monsters and Men's My Head Is An Animal which also required music appreciating breaks because at some points it just got too good!

Up next on my full album marathon is Daughter's If You Leave. I won't have time for the whole thing because the room I am in closes in 36 minutes. But I just started it, and deeemmm drums!

Nursing school isn't so bad (a recap of my week)

This week has been a rough one in terms of sleep. My Mondays always start off great since I don't have class untill 11:30 so I can sleep "late". But after that its just down hill. After class on Monday I headed to the library with a friend, and at 5:30 I ran off to take calls for scarlet listeners. Monday night I went rock climbing, came home, took a shower and went straight to bed. (Can I just say Mondays are my favorite day of the week? How weird is that - I know! But I love the class I have on Monday, I love that I can sleep in, I love taking call, and topping off my night with climbing is just perfection)

Anyways, even though I managed to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, for some reason, I overslept for work on Tuesday morning, and made it there at 8:25 instead of 8:15 (A.M. - I know, brutal). I then proceeded to have the most awkward Tuesday morning ever. But it happens. I went to a class that was actually canceled, met with a professor about the fact that I got a 68 on her last exam, and then spent the rest of my day & night in the library. 

Yesterday I had clinical, which requires waking up at an ungodly hour (aka before the sun is even up!). But luckily I managed to squeeze a nap in before heading off to the library to study my life away. A few friends and I left the library at 12:30 am, and then Angela was wonderful enough to take me to the grocery store since I have been eating out the past week and have zero food at home. Yes, we went grocery shopping at 1 A.M. This is the life of a nursing student who doesn't even have time to bleach her mustache and tweeze her eyebrows - forget about grocery shopping! By the time I got home, showered, got my stuff ready for the morning and started to fall asleep, it was 3:30 (Let me just clarify - 3:30 in the A.M.). Annnnnd, I had to wake up at 7:20 (in the A.M) today for work. Andddd I wont get home tonight until 9 or 10 (in the P.M)

The thing is, I am not even complaining. Yeah, it sucks that I haven't gotten much sleep. And yeah it sucks that I have spent every night this week in the library. But I have spent my nights studying like crazy with amazing people. Nursing school is such a bitch, but we're all struggling through this together which actually makes it a really beautiful thing. Talk to me tomorrow though, and lets see how I feel about nursing school then. 

Another little tidbit of nursing life info that I am really excited about: So yesterday at clinical, I was shadowing this nurse named Aine, who is absolutely amazing. Seeing her communicate with her patients is just so inspiring. She talks to them as if shes know then forever. She clearly explains everything that she is going to do with them, along with everything they're going to experience for the next few days in the hospital (surgery and recovery wise). You can just immediately sense her patients feeling at home, and feeling relieved that they now know exactly what to expect. So Aine, a resident and I were in the break room talking about how cold it is, Aine said that even though its so cold, she doesn't miss California. Which lead to her telling me a bit about her experience as a travel nurse. And I just got so freaking inspired since I reaaallly want to do travel nursing. Except I never knew how to go about it. Aine told me before I can do travel nursing, I need to get a few years experience on med-surg floor or something of the sort to gain a basic skill set and become really strong in those skills. Then I can start traveling. And I just feel like this gave me a whole new purpose as a nursing student (I know that sounds really dramatic and intense, but whatever). Everyone always asks me "do you have a specific field of nursing you want to go into?" And I never have a good response. But now I actually know where I am headed with this silly little career. So as of now the game plan after graduation is to move back home and spend 2 or 3 years working and saving up money and learning everything that I possibly can. Then I'll start traveling, but I won't spend the money that I saved in my initial few years. That way all the money I make as a travel nurse can be spent on the road, and when I get back I'll have a nice little savings to settle down with. 

Ahh, so many amazing goals and so many long term things to look forward to. I tend only really thing short term when it comes to goals. I just feel weird thinking so far ahead. But now I know where I want to be, and I am really freaking happy about it. 

Running

Running. That thing that I used to love to do, but don't do anymore because of time. I need to try and figure out how to make more time in my life for running again. I've figured out how to make time for work, and I've figured out how to make time for climbing (although I really wish I did that at least 1 more time a week), and for Scarlet Listeners, and for a semi-normal social life. Now I need to figure out how to make time for my old love of running. I've managed to 1x a week somewhat consistently now. But they're always super short runs. I tell myself that I am just getting back into running, and so I don't want to push myself too hard. 

The thing is, a lot of my day is already taken up. I've been going to bed around 11:30 lately, so that I can feel somewhat normal for my 7am mornings (and 5am on Wedneday). So I am really not sure where running can fit into my life right now. What if I just start waking up at 5am every day? Then it wont be so bad on Wednesdays, and I can run in the morning on other days? Ugh. But I am not a fan of morning runs.

Night time running is my true love. But at the end of the day I am just so spent. Today, I woke up at 7:20 to get to work at 8:15. After work I have an externship workshop from 12:15-2:15. Then I have class until 8. After class, I am going straight to the library to start studying for the exam that I have tomorrow morning. 

So its clear that night time runs are also not very realistic for me. Night time runs are like a nice little fling. A thing I can squeeze they work with my life. And I guess depending on how early in the morning you run, its almost like a night time run.

I can wake up at 5am. Have 1/2 a banana, peanut butter and crackers pre-run. Run. Finish my banana, stretch and hop in the shower. At that point it will be around 7am. After that, getting ready will be no different than my usual morning routine. 

I think I'll try this on Saturday. No, Saturdays are the only day out of the entire 7 days I can sleep in. Saturdays need to be saved for that. So I will try this on Sunday. I want to say I'll give it a go tomorrow, but I have a 9am exam, and I don't want to risk a messy morning on an exam day. Also, I'll probably be in the library for quite a while tonight.