Ii posted this in the career..considering becoming a nurse but feel its more appropriate to get opinions from nurses already............THANKS      ............I have been researching so much regarding becoming a nurse and finally had a plan and was soo excited!! I was so hesitant if at 39 I should start studying a try to acheive becoming a RN someday even by milestones to achieve an income sooner in the field. But......am I ready for this??? Do I really deserve to be a nurse??????? The reason I had thought of working towards a career and a respectable one as a nurse is for my family..........Of course I want to study a career that would provide my job securtiy by a demand and of course a respectable income. At the moment I am a realtor and an entreupeneur. ( I've had 2 businesses) Anyhow, like I mentioned the main reason is for my family and we would all sacrafice $ and time away from me as I study in school and at home! Of course I would feel very proud of myself and accomplished but my family mainly my 3 kids........ages 20,15 and 5 (next month 21,16 and 5) a much better life and them feeling proud of me as well. But..............I had never thought of a silly thing for many........... HOLIDAYS.... I can't imagine not spending Christmas with my children or counting down the new year without them.  I feel I would be taking away such precious times and memories they can never get again. I make sure that their holidays are very memorable and that they never lose the spirit so they can always have these childhood memories. I know its silly and my eldest son is studying polital science but is now a certified firefighter awaiting to finish EMT class will probably begin working as a firefighter next year and thats one less to miss me because believe it or not Ive never spent a holiday away from him and I had him at 18. Well...............I know this is silly to many or most but I hadn't really thought about how demanding hospital hours are!! 24 hours a day 365 days a year patients are there! I know I can work in a Dr. office but the top positions and top pay would be a hospital. I am sooooo down now!! What else can I do in the healthcare industry because I really like it!? Is this dumb or selfish...my eldest thought I was nuts worrying about this but.........how can I not think about every detail before I commit to school and all it entails.....? Any comments would be appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for reading .........   ; )

geekRN: Those are some negetative comments. Nursing in the hospital and in a doc's office is rewarding. There are some trade offs. You don't have to work every holiday; you rotate with others. Not all doc's are difficult to work with.

I went to www.truenursing.com and it seems to be a bash session on patients and nursing. It is a very derogatory website for nursing. Do you have some issues with your career?

AnnieZ101: If you want to be a nurse do not let comments from a disgruntled person influence your decision. If you want to be a nurse....Be one!

You need to go with what your GUT tells you and what little voice you hear in your head.   This is how God speaks to us!   Don't go into nursing for anyone else except YOU and GOD.  I believe nursing is a calling from God, and if you have that voice or feeling then you must go for it, because to not do so would be turning you back on God.  I know it makes you anxious and affraid, because I too was there 15 years ago.   I had the voice in my head for years saying "be a nurse, be a nurse, be a nurse", and I said "NO DAGGON WAY!!!!!!!!!"    I didn't want to have the lives others in my hands and it scared me to think about it.   I jumped from job to job.  I always wanted to be a psychiatrist, but each time I was to enroll in school I would get sick and put in the hospital.  Finally I got laid off from a job and was collecting unemployment and told their worker that I might want to go back to school.  She handed me a pamplet that I didn't read for  a couple of months.  When I did read it , I saw the gov't offered to pay for me to go to school to be an LPN.  That night I prayed "God if it was you all those times when I heard be a nurse, then tomorrow when I go on this interview I will get hired on the spot no matter what".  The next day I went on the interview and didn't put my best foot forward.  I told the lady "those hours are unexceptable.............I will work this; that pay is unexceptable ..........................I will take this, and I might have to quit, because I might go back to school"  The lady said "ok, you are hired", and I said "I will be going back to school".

Nursing is hard, but it is rewarding.  No you don't always get thanked and the hours can be long and the work is stressful, but there is a sense of pride you will feel from doing a good job in this field that  I never felt in any other.   I also like knowing that I AM DOING GOD'S WORK and that for me keeps me going.  There are so many different things you can do with a nursing degree that can be less stressful and less demanding than say in a hospital.  You could be a school nurse and then you would have the same days off as your children.

You have to look inside yourself and see what is REALLY putting the idea in your head to go into nursing and if it is a littler voice or a gut feeling then know it is God and this IS your calling!   Take care and God Bless you and your family.