Share your struggle – It can be somebody else’s survival guide!!
So, you failed. You failed a course. You failed a clinical rotation. You failed the registration exam. You failed. YOU FAILED! YOU FAILED! YOU FAILED!
<> Y-O-U!!!!!!!! F-A-I-L-E-D!!!!!!!!!!
Guess what?
No amount of self-deprecation is going to change this.
No amount of self-inflicted pain is going to change this.
No amount of self-pity is going to change this.
No amount of letting it define your future is going to change this.
You never know how you will use this devastating (temporary) moment in your life to help others in the future.
Maybe one day your own child will fail at something and you will draw on your failure experience as an example of not letting this temporary setback define your future- your value.
Maybe one day you will be a nurse educator and you will use your own nursing school struggles to mentor one of your students on resilience and the importance of not giving up.
Maybe one day a patient will take you by the hand and thank you for touching their life and you will thank your previous self for suffering through the trauma of failure- only to come out more determined than ever.
FAILURE is not FINAL. FAILURE is not DEFINITIVE. FAILURE is LEARNING.
There is power in vulnerability.
As the great Nelson Madela once said: “I never lose. I either WIN or LEARN.”
The same can be said of failure: “We never fail. We either PASS or LEARN.”
There is learning in the hard- learning you may not be able to see; but the day will come when your story will somebody else’s survival guide.
Until then- don’t let it define you,
Ashley & Linda
Your On-Call Professors of Nursing #NursingNeedsYou #YouMatter #GetNpowered
