Insinuation

If ever you've felt that I thought nursing students, on average, were of the stupid inclination, I apologize...for now.

While sitting in class and listening to no fewer than eight students do their best to tear the professor apart due to the fact that they said that she (prof) said that there was only multiple choice on the midterm, wait, no, that she (prof) said that there would be short answer but they would be only one-word answers (wtf?), no, that wasn't it, it was that she (prof) didn't communicate clearly the expectations of the exam because I would have studied WAY differently (read: actually studied) if I had known that I was supposed actually comprehend and memorize things instead of being able to choose the best answer from a list containing one goofy answer, one wrong answer and two answers that are plausible but one results in success and the other in tears and cries of "BUT IT'S THE SAME THING!" (deep breath to recover from run-on sentence and continue the train wreck).................I realized that nursing students aren't exactly stupid, they're scared.

What are they scared of?  Quite simply, they fear the same thing every single person on earth fears:  losing control.  Now, just because we all fear losing control doesn't mean we all have valid fears.  In fact, it's just the opposite.  Our fears are usually ridiculous, things that we have talked ourselves through time after time but still can't bring ourselves to overcome them.  Our fears are irrational, yet every time we reason our way through them, we end of right back where we've begun: clinging to the ice cream bucket, sobbing our eyes out while we watch episode after episode of Holmes on Homes. 

Or something like that.

BUT, nursing students are different.

Nursing students, usually being the overachieving, recently graduated from high-school types, fear losing control of their educational outcomes after realizing they were spoon-fed throughout high-school.  They fear the presence of expectations that, when not met, result in actual consequences.  For instance, being expected to study for and write an exam that isn't multiple choice or being expected to hold your rage inside after a clinical coordinator tells you ever-so-kindly that you are not the perfect angel your parents always said you were.

At this stressful juncture, students have a choice to travel down one of two paths.  They can choose the direction that sees them remain calm despite emotions, cool despite the pressure, and collected despite the urge to lash out at everything (and everyone) that seemingly stands in opposition. This path leads to the realization that life just isn't all about you despite what car makers and your well-intentioned parents would have you believe.  The other path is much easier because every problem is the fault of someone else and every success is yours to flaunt.  The ease ends, however, with a frightening crash upon the rocks of reality or, as I like to call them, the Cliffs of Disparage.

So, while sitting and listening to my fellow nursing students further embarrass themselves, I realized that I was surrounded by something more lethal than idiots: fearful nursing students.

Stay in school.