Like Nailing Jell-O to a Wall
When I became an NP student, there was no making a couple of adjustments to create a serene and everlasting balance between school and all the other things I have going on in my life. Instead, finding balance has been an ongoing, everyday process. It is often downright exhausting and many times I feel it's never completely achieved.
There are days that this pursuit of elusive balance leaves me feeling like I am trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. I cannot take credit for this brilliant analogy; I gleaned it from Facebook, where wisdom and plagiarism often spread quicker than pink eye through my son's preschool class.
I recently realized that balance at this point in my life has become a game of give-and-take, along with the acquisition of some mad multitasking skills. I get behind on household chores to get caught up on reading - the reading I got behind on because I had a sick child. I often cook supper with a spoon in one hand and a book in the other. Lately I feel that my texts have become appendages.
I try to listen to lectures while the kids are in school. Many times I study for tests while waiting to pick them up. I am not in this alone. Thankfully, I have a supportive significant other. He tries to help in any way possible, from cleaning the house to just giving me moral support. Over the past few weeks and in those moments when I feel incredibly overwhelmed, I have needed a lot of moral support to keep me trudging ahead.
I am not complaining. I want to be a great family nurse practitioner, and it takes dedication and hard work to achieve this. And even when things are unbalanced, the dishes and assigned readings are piling up and I am sitting in the waiting room of our family practice clinic with a sick child, I feel accomplished and proud. After all, what we do as NP students in all our varied situations is pretty amazing!