The Life of a Nursing Student… in GIFs!

Studying nursing is hard. It’s hard to get in, it’s hard to learn everything, and it’s even hard to deal with people who think you’re more than a little crazy for joining the profession in the first place. If you’re a current nursing student, here are some GIFs that will surely resonate with your experience in school.

That moment you get your acceptance letter to your TOP CHOICE for nursing school!

the acceptance letter

This is the beginning of everything. With this letter in hand, your confidence is up and you are ready to take on the next big challenge.

beginning of everything

Unfortunately, people may not be as supportive as you would like. In fact, some friends or family members can come off as downright ignorant in what they think a nurse actually does. If you have friends that think nurses are just assistants to doctors, educate them!

educate them

Despite any potential judgment, you’ve decided for sure that nursing school is for you. Time to get moving!

nursing school is for you

But then you get your book lists and head to the bookstore, because you, of course, will be totally prepared. Unfortunately, books cost an absolute fortune.

books cost an absolute fortune

Once classes get going, you’re pretty sure you have everything under control.

That is until you get your first reading assignment. Then it’s an avalanche of pages to read in every class and you have no idea how you’re going to do it all.

first reading assignment

In fact, didn’t syllabus week used to be a thing? Whatever happened to that first week of just getting familiar with the class?!

So you get into the swing of things and start your very first chapter of your first book in nursing school. Chances are you look like this:

first chapter

Then that creeping doubt turns up. Maybe nursing school wasn’t for you?

creeping doubt

But you put your head down and you keep going. You arrange study groups and drown yourself in index cards and highlighters.

put your head down

And while you’re struggling to stay sane while you study for exams, a friend has the nerve to tell you that nursing school must be pretty easy, right? It’s not like it’s med school, anyway! Feel free to LOL at this.

what others are going to say

You know just how difficult it is to get through nursing school, so don’t you worry what others are going to say.

Soon it becomes pretty clear that you’ll have to make some sacrifices if you want to make it through school. That lively social life you used to have? Yeah, you can kiss that goodbye.

It can be pretty hard to watch all of your friends have fun over the weekend while you’re in your room alone studying.

friends have fun

In fact, now that you’re a nursing student, it’s pretty much all books, all day, every day.

pretty much all books

It seems like every single week there’s a test in some class or other and by the time you finish taking it, you aren’t quite sure if you passed with flying colors or if you failed miserably.

failed miserably

So you have to just wait for your results to come out, which can be pretty torturous.

wait for your results

And when you get your results back, you might be pleasantly surprised!

Or… not.

You won’t be perfect and you won’t do well on everything, even if you put in a ton of study time. Some things will just be hard.

You won’t be perfect

And sometimes the gods of luck will smile down on you and you’ll ace a quiz that maybe you weren’t totally prepared for. Time to celebrate!

Time to celebrate

Don’t forget to get your family and friends in on the action. They will love to share your success with you.

No doubt about it, nursing school is tough. Sometimes it’s going to feel like more than you can handle.

And even when you’re having a really bad day…

And people are criticizing your career choice…

people are criticizing your career choice

And you have to answer dumb questions like “are you tired?” or “are you stressed out?”

answer dumb questions

You know you’re going to stick with it and make it through.

Because becoming a nurse is your dream, and you know that even though it’s difficult, even though you’re overwhelmed, it’s going to be totally worth it.

you’re overwhelmed

If you’re in doubt, just remember why you got into the profession. To help people…

And to make a difference.

The process of becoming a professional nurse is not an easy one. The journey includes bumpy roads, twists and turns, and maybe even a U-turn or two. If you’re ever in doubt of your abilities, don’t forget that you’ve chosen a career that means something. People will be counting on you to make it through.

You’ve got this!

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