When I was a senior in high school I became a waitress at a restaurant that hired many ex-convicts and drug addicts. Many of those people scared me at first as I was a young homeschooled teenager who barely left the house. As time went on, I took the time to know those people and their stories. They had the most chaotic, traumatizing, and perspective-shifting stories. They taught me so much about life and did not sugarcoat one thing. I also realized one thing about myself, that I've never allowed fear to stop me from doing something. While I could've easily chosen to move to a nicer restaurant with more "stable" coworkers as society would say, I chose to stay because I knew that being around people who are different from me is how I can grow as a person. That's when I grew my passion for nursing. Specifically, I want to become an ER nurse. I want to be an ER nurse because that allows me to work with anyone and everyone. Regardless of race, class, sexuality, or religion. Not only do I get to work with everyone and anyone, I get to help people who are at their lowest. People who need someone that can empathize and have sympathy for them as they're going through something incredibly traumatic. My desire to work with difficult people grew from my realization that the most difficult people to love are usually the ones who need it the most. Along with this desire to help people at their lowest, I have an incredible affinity for adventure and story-telling. I've become friends with people who've worked in the ER and I've always been completely captivated by the stories they tell me and the things they see daily. I want to be able to experience and do things that not many people get to do. When I become an ER nurse, I hope to be placed in a hospital located in a large city such as San Antonio, Atlanta, or Phoenix. The reason I wished to be placed in large-scale cities is because I am aware that these areas are usually incredibly saturated with drug abuse. I want to be able to be an advocate for our younger generation and help them understand the realities and dangers of addiction. If I work with more patients who have struggled with substance abuse, the better I can educate our youth and hopefully cultivate a generation where substance abuse is not as prominent as it is today. 16 year old me would've been completely shocked that I decided to pursue a career that seemed so difficult and demanding. My mom would suggest the idea of nursing and I'd laugh it off, because I never believed I was smart enough to be a nurse. But I felt such clarity when I arrived at Grand Canyon University and excelled in my exams, made amazing friends, and gained a new perspective on life. I felt like I belonged there, and that God was calling me to this path.