Check out my new blog website Livingnika.com

Finally made a logo for my brand. I just bought a domain so go check out my website Livingnika.com and my YT channel Lovemenika1

Fake It Till You Make It

    
      Have you ever heard of faking it till you make it? For example, a job, internship or a business venture. I hear it a lot more as I got older. When you're trying to pursue a dream or purpose, there will be trials and tribulations in your path. It could be a lack of resources or someone making it hard for you to win. Sometimes you just have to put a smile on your face and be focused. You are only there for the one reason and that one reason only is to reach your goal. It's a temporary placement unless you make it permanent.

        I was listening to a speech  from TD Jakes about Purpose and he said, "Sometimes keeping it real will keep you broke and keeping it real will keep you out of a job." I agree with this statement so much because some of us are so quick to tell someone off or telling them like it is, however, do not realize there could be a consequence. Don't get me wrong it is always a great thing to stand up for yourself. Think to yourself, if you're always burning bridges with people then how do you expect to have resources, or support from anyone?

New Video

New video on my Youtube channel. Lovemenika1 is the name and go check it out!

Quote of the Week

Thinking

Knowing in your heart that you could never do anything but nursing.
Even when nursing school could kill you sometimes. - Anonymous

   This quote speaks in measures for me. I've tried looking into other careers but, I kept reverting back to nursing. Don't get me wrong, I love blogging and writing about my experiences. I believe it's my calling and I can feel it. If I wanted to get a career just for the money, I would've found something with a starting pay at $50 per hour or more.
    Nursing school is hard and sometimes I feel like giving up but, I know this will pay off at the end. Basically, you just have to talk yourself through the semesters.
Motto: I started nursing school and will finish nursing school flawlessly. 

I Passed

I passed my nursing exam! This was my third nursing exam in the course and we have about three more to go. After failing my first two exams, I told myself something needed to change. What I started doing is first pray before I started studying and ask God to help me understand and retain the material and pray before the exam. Then I would read the book, do most of the questions on a workbook/study guide, and then do practice questions. I still need to do some enhancement in order to get a higher grade which is to increase the amount of practice questions. On the test I would underline the key words, read the question a second time if I didn't understand it, and do process of elimination. If I was unsure about the answer I would look for the clue word "assessment" and then think about Maslow's Hierarchy of needs and the ABCs (Airway Breathing Circulation). What I've realized is that most questions are asking about priority, what would you do first? I hope this helped and I plan on creating a post or video on how I study for exams once I finish up my first semester.

I've decided to change a bit in my content and add something new. Therefore, from now on my blog will be about my journey to nursing, lifestyle, and self-care. I'll be posting about tips, experiences, and budget friendly items. Stay tune!

Quote of the week

Live life to the fullest, and focus on the positives. -Matt Cameron

When life gets hard you begin to forget about the positives and think about the negatives. Situations will get hard sometimes. However, it's best if you remind yourself that it can not rain forever.

Is Nursing The Right Career For You?

      That is the question I've been asking myself in the past few days. I was afraid to share this with people because I felt so ashamed, however, regardless of my feelings I have to share it with you guys anyways. On the last week of January, I took my first exam and I would say that I felt pretty confident about the answers I chose. When classmates asked me how I did on the test, I told them I think I did fine. A week after that we got are test results and when I checked my grade I got a 71% on my first exam. Well, that's not bad but, remember nursing school grading scale is different from the normal grading scale. In my program, the lowest passing grade is a 77%. I felt so sad and defeated. I didn't know what to do and what I needed to do in order to maintain my grade for the class. When I asked my other classmates about how they did on the test, most of them received around 70-76%. So, I wasn't the only one who failed and it made me alittle bit calmer.

     From this day and forward I will get over it and let it go. I've been doing some to research on different ways to study and talking to other students about their study methods. I think one mistake I've made was trying to create a study guide for each chapter and not actually spending the time to study the material. I am going to study hard, focus and pray because I believe nursing is my calling.

Feeling Stressed Out

Have you ever felt so consumed in school work, life issues, bills or unhealthy relationships? Well I know I have and it can be very hard to deal with sometimes. I am a college student currently in a nursing program and let me tell you this is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I didn't underestimate the program because I've heard from nursing students that the program was challenging. On January 8, 2017 I had to quit my job at Disney and it wasn't easy. I met so many awesome people and guests, loved working in a fun environment and learning new things. However, it wasn't what I wanted to do in the long term. Anyways, I left my job because I wouldn't be able to keep up with my school and work schedule, so I had to make a choice and I decided to quit my job. This is where the stress comes in; nursing school is expensive and I have bills that need to be paid every month! Well, what do I do?

• First thing I try to do is to stay positive and remind myself that this will pay off at the end.
• Ask your parents for help (thank God for my mother).
• A friend suggested to use aromatherapy for stress relief.
• Drinking tea ( I drink Tazo Calm Chamomile).
• Pray or meditate. 
• Doing a hobby that keeps your mind off the stress (blogging is my getaway). 

I hope these tips help you ease your mind and stress!

How Expensive Can Nursing School Become?

In this post I will be explaining to you on how expensive the program became before I even started!
When I received my acceptance letter there were requirements that needed to be done before the first week of school.

• Background check package including drug test. $188
• School uniform pants. $24
• School uniform shirts. $30 x2 = $60
• Physical test. $50
• Flu shot. $20
• Books and supplies(including bp cuff & stethoscope) $1030
• School tuition(1 semester) $1220
• Personal supplies. $105
• Ink(printer). $50
• Misc. (snacks to take, school id etc) $25 

Bible Verses that Helped me Through College

Psalm 23
- This lets me know that God is always on my side.
Philippians 4:13
- This helps me to stay encouraged.
Romans 8:13
- This verse helps me when I feel overwhelmed with school, if I failed a class, or people I cared about not supporting me.
Hebrews 11
-  This is a reminder for me when I doubt my faith or question God's timing.

5 Things I didn't Know About Nursing School

1. Nursing school is intense.
I did not know how intense and time-consuming this major was until I heard experiences from nursing students and nurses. In 3 words... it is hard.

2. Nursing school will be your main focus.
It's going to be hard to do other things outside of nursing school. For instance, working a full-time job or spending time with your family. I don't think this is completely true, but it seems like nursing school comes first and everything else follows.

3. It will be very hard to keep a job (you will be broke).
Like I stated before is that the program is not easy and most of your time will be spent in class, clinicals and studying. There may be room for some work. The school I currently attend told us if we decided to work not to work more than 15 hours per week.

4. There are different types of nursing careers.
There are CNAs, LPNs, RNs or NPs. The highest paid is the nurse practitioner(NP) which requires a masters degree or a doctorate degree. The least paid is a CNA which requires a certificate of completion.

5. Every question is correct, but you have to choose the "best" answer.
The exams will be similar to NCLEX style questions. This is where some students have problems on exams because it is all about critical thinking and being able to know how to apply certain skills in the medical workplace.