Personal Essay On Becoming A Nurse

I have often been asked why I chose the nursing profession from friends and family, especially as I was graduating high school and starting my first year of college at UT Arlington. People who cared told me school was going to be hard, I wouldn’t have a social life, and it would be highly competitive. I even asked myself myriads of times whether this was really what I wanted to do, but every time my answer remained the same, yes. Though this uncertainty of the task ahead scared me, I was dedicated to becoming a nurse, no matter how hard it would be. Since that time two years ago, my answer to that question has progressed and evolved, and taken on a whole new level of dedication behind it.
When I was four years old, my mother was diagnosed with stage three stomach cancer. There were four of us children all under the age of six, and

we were there with her through most of her hospitalizations. Sadly, my mother died two years later having lived fully those last two years with us. Now, I realize this is the classic story of a kid who grows up and wants to be a doctor or nurse to help save others who go through the same thing. But, to be honest, I don’t even remember the nurses who cared for her, or the doctors who operated on her, but my mom did. She remembered every one.
Later, when I was older, I reread some of the letters my mother had written me while she was sick and in treatment, and one of them stuck out the most.

She had written to me to be good and take my medicine for my chicken pox, and at the closing of her letter she told me she missed me, but that every nurse at the facility had a huge smile and a joyful, caring spirit, just like me. She told me that they reminded her of me. Since reading that, I have always thought about how much of an impact a nurse can have on a person who is suffering, in pain, or living in the reality of the fact that they could be leaving their friends and family behind, or in my mom’s case, her four kids. However, I didn’t consider becoming a nurse until sophomore year in high school when I realized that I am passionate about science, the human body, and health care. Additionally, I began to see some of my strengths and passions which are to serve and care for people in a practical way. By the time senior year rolled around, I had a solid answer which I would recite to every one who asked the question you ask every high school senior, what do you want to do in

college?
Since freshman year, the intensity of my classes and the dedication required only helped to solidify my passion to be a nurse. I have found that the more I learn in my pre-nursing classes, the more I realize that I am learning more than just a skill set, I am learning to practically take care of someone and help ease their pain, both physically and emotionally. This ability to use the gifts and strengths God has given me is the bases of everything I hope to be and accomplish. If asked whether I would have chosen a different rout, I would reply with surety that, I would not want to be anything else but a nurse.