Never Give Up, Miracles Exist
Pass the Lovely Strike of Luck on to Each Other
Sometimes we are desperate for some sort of divine intervention. Sometimes the inexplicable happens. I was waiting on a miracle to happen without even knowing it.
I am a full-time nursing student in an accelerated one-year nursing program during the Covid-19 pandemic aka I am a bona fide crazy person. This whole year has been a complete struggle. I have lost a lot of people from my cohort this year due to the rigorous course material and unrealistic time constraints. I have been struggling with extreme imposter syndrome. I have been minimizing my achievements and searching for reasons to give up non-stop. In addition to the insane amount of work on a daily basis, there were a couple of obstacles I had to endure and come back from. Whether it be receiving a non-passing score on a care plan or having to remediate for an exam or check off, I have completed tasks I never thought I was capable of accomplishing; however, I cannot say I did it by myself.
Recently, I was assigned a mini care plan in order to progress in the program onto preceptorship. The minimum required score in order to pass the care plan was 90%. I worked and worked on this care plan for several hours and multiple days and was extremely confident in my ability to pass this care plan on the first try. Needless to say, I was terribly disappointed when I received an Email with my graded care plan attached stating that I was unsuccessful and would have to re-do the care plan. I was so frustrated and down on myself. My feelings of inadequacy started to return, and the imposter began to reemerge. I was ready to quit nursing altogether. If I can’t even pass a care plan, how on earth would I be competent enough to have the lives of others in my hands? I decided that I would not be able to complete my work in that frame of mind. So, what did I do? I did something that I have neglected to do for a while. I decided to take the rest of the day off and enjoy life.
The next morning, I woke up motivated again to tackle the task. I checked my phone and saw I had a new grade notification. “Care Plan Attempt 2 grade,” the screen read, and the value beside it, 99%. “Wow, this must be some sort of mistake,” I thought to myself. I’ll just submit a new care plan just in case, but when I went to retrieve the Email with my instructor’s feedback on my care plan, it said that access to the document has been removed by my instructor. As to what caused this miracle, I have no idea, but it was definitely a moment of divine intervention.
If you are thinking of giving up on yourself, here is a reminder to keep going. You are capable of great things, and you are not alone. Today, I encourage you to perform a random act of kindness such as the one my instructor performed for me. I hope that by sharing this personal anecdote, I was able to influence someone in the possibility of miracles happening in your life. I would also like to take this time to thank all of the kind-hearted people in my cohort for encouraging me and believing in me. Hopefully, I am able to pass the lovely strike of luck on to each of you reading this.
