Week 8 as a level 3 nursing student

"I try to enjoy the little things in life..."

Goodbye, Riverview! I say that with a fair amount of sadness. These past 8 weeks have been both enlightening and trying, surprisingly. In talking with students from other levels, the majority of them have said that their mental health rotation experiences were super easy, etc. etc. I think it depends on what you mean by 'easy'. Task-wise it was definitely a remarkable change of pace from my surgical rotation's task-oriented ways, but in terms of communication, it was definitely a challenge. If you know me, you know I am fairly talkative, connect well with ppl (generally), and try to be friendly. However, no matter how friendly I aim to be, I still faced some apprehension when asking about certain things like delusions, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, and topics I have not had much exposure to in my life. But that's what it ultimately is, I feel - inexperience!

The highlight of my week in clinical this week was being able to talk to one of my patients. While this may sound ridiculous and miniscule to some, it was a huge accomplishment for me because this patient is known to be reserved and reclusive. To be able to sit there with them and have them ask me back some of the questions I posed was so incredibly exciting for me. I relish in the fact that they took a genuine interest in me and even asked what kind of nursing I wanted to do after I complete school.

Ironically, the title of this blog is fitting. Because today was our last day of Mental Health Clinical, our instructor generously took us out for pizza and it was so much fun. I was in the middle of digging into a slice of pizza when someone made some comment to me and I responded with, "I TRY TO ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE" and Amrit (my newly faithful reader) responded with, "THAT SHOULD BE THE TITLE OF YOUR NEXT BLOG". Haha. So while the comment I made was offhanded, it is fitting. Even though having someone ask me about my interests might seem minute to another, it spoke volumes to me and I've learned that I need to celebrate my successes, no matter how trivial they may seem. And I don't find this one trivial by any means.

Maternity, here I come! Look out, world!!