coldspa.

it must be that kind of a week. between today and yesterday i was on the other end of two different breakdowns. school is tough. nursing is hard.

as p1's we completely immerse ourselves with all things nursing. our newest and closest friends are our fellow p1's. we spend every day with them. we sometimes see them more than we see our own family. then there are classes, labs, and clinicals. not to mention the homework that seems like a never ending list. it begins to get very hard to see anything outside of nursing. it seems like our entire lives start to breathe nursing, eat nursing, and even sleep nursing. it's a make-believe world that teaches us that nursing is the only thing that matters.

and then it hits us. something non-nursing related that rocks our little make-believe world. somebody's grandpa dies, or another grandpa is sick, or a paper we worked so hard on needs more work. we almost forget how to respond to these normal events because we are so busy living life in our make-believe world where we sleep for 3 hours but educate our patients about the importance of getting a good nights sleep. the only response that we have are tears.

it might not even be something that is tear worthy. but that's all we know. that's the only thing that makes us feel a little better. we practice our coldspa on ourselves. we hurt. character: aching, throbbing. onset: a couple months ago. location: all over. duration: intermittant to constant. severity: just severe enough. pattern: tears make us better, knowing there is an end in sight helps, due dates make it worse. associated factors: lack of sleep.

nursing school has become our little make-believe world where catheters always go in the first try, the patients (dummies) never have pain, and the only meds we admister are m&ms and smarties.

its time for not only myself but also my fellow p1's to remember that this is just a phase in our lives. let's remember not to forget about relationships with our non-nursing friends and family and God. let's remember that it is okay to breakdown everyonce in a while, we are only human. let's remember to take some time for ourselves, because we cant help others if we cant take care of ourselves. and let's remember that soon this phase in our lives will be over and no matter what, we will get through this :)