As a first-generation college student, stepping onto campus meant entering a world that was completely unknown to me. College felt like a valley of possible careers, filled with endless opportunities, but I had no clear direction. The only spark I had was a biomedical class I took during my senior year of high school. I did not expect to fall in love with the medical field, but that class pushed me head-first into it. Still, it would take a series of events, including the loss of my brother during my senior year of college, to ultimately lead me to nursing. What once felt like endless dead ends and failures slowly became a direct path forward. By the end of my first degree, I had convinced myself that I was not smart enough to pursue the field I was truly interested in. Then, one month before his own college graduation, my brother passed away. That loss changed everything. It sparked something in me and pushed me further than I had gone during the previous years of my first degree. I completed all of my nursing prerequisites in just a few months and applied to my current nursing program one day before the application deadline. When I entered nursing school, I had one firm rule: “I will never work in pediatrics.” That rule was not because I lacked compassion or ability, but because I was afraid. I was a childless 22-year-old nursing student, and I worried I would not know how to connect with children or their parents. I feared saying the wrong thing. I feared failing families during some of their most vulnerable moments. Despite those fears, I always felt drawn to the NICU. During my labor and delivery rotation, that interest began to truly grow. I begged my clinical instructor for as many NICU experiences as possible, and she helped make that happen. There, I witnessed both sides of such a delicate environment: families holding their newborns for the first time and families who had spent months building relationships with the nurses caring for their child. Witnessing the balance between tiny fighters and families experiencing some of the most difficult moments of their lives was life-changing. I realized that NICU nurses do more than care for fragile infants; they help hold families together when their world feels uncertain. That is the kind of nurse I knew I wanted to become.

I wasn't always on the path to nursing, however, there was always a level of connection that I felt with the medical field. Everything just fell into place with it, and I just knew it somewhere I wanted to be. I was in love with the idea of being able to meet a wide variety of people. I was thrilled at the idea of being able to be a life-changing force in someone's life. The first time I felt a spark towards the medical field was my senior year of high school. During this time I would join the Biomedical Sciences course at my local technical college. Through this course I was able to explore hospital settings, learn medical terminology, and dove deeper into the components of the body. This basis of knowledge has continued to even benefit me through my entire pre-nursing career into my new journey now as a nursing student. I found myself being the first to class everyday, and actively taking a role in the class. I joined the volunteer community at my technical college as a rep for my class. Where I served as the biomedical chair and helped create volunteer opportunities for other students. At the end of my time much to my surprise was when I won "Biomedical Student of The Year," which would be the first scholarship I'd ever win in my life. From day one when I chose my college journey as a first generation student I was told that I would be doing this on my own. I begun applying to any and every scholarship that was accessible to me. This scholarship was small, but it felt like hope. Attending college with no prior knowledge or finances is a daunting task. It also was the first moment in my life where I felt capable of achieving my dreams. When I begun my freshman year of college was when I really branched into volunteering opportunities. This was when I begun working in a free clinic. This clinic offered 100% free services to individuals who needed healthcare direly. Every individual in that center made no money and had to volunteer real time to be there. That was the first time I heard a professional say the statement, " this is real healthcare. " That moment resonated with me. These were individuals here giving their time and license for free to genuinely help their community. My journey wasn't always easy, and there was many times I failed my prerequisites and felt that I wasn't cut out for nursing. I had switched to Psychology with the idea that perhaps that's where I was meant to be. That was until I received my first offer to work as a medical scribe in an orthopedic office. This moment brought faith back into my life, and inspired me to keep pushing. Through that experience I got a glimpse into hospital life and fell in love with nursing. The patient connection was something that I found myself wanting to achieve. During my senior year of college I was finally able to pass Anatomy and Physiology, and even Microbiology. This might have been the year fullest of my greatest accomplishments and hardships. This would be the year I would lose my brother, and witness my parent's divorce. It has been an uphill battle to reach where I am now. I experienced road blocks, pain, loss, and suffering. I do believe every moment of it was important because through it I learned true passion.

Being the first to attend college in my family left me with so much options and uncertainty. For the longest time in my life I had believed I'd be pursuing physical therapy. My parents had always pushed me in that direction because I loved people and sports. I had leaned into this idea because the plan of attending college itself felt like a dream. My whole viewpoint shifted following the tearing of my ACL at the end of my junior year of high school. During this time I spent seven months in physical therapy and was able to shadow my physical therapist following it. I felt distraught at this time because the path my family decided had begun to crumble. After shadowing the physical therapist I had a strong urge this wasn't the career for me. My senior year of high school begun to shed more light on my path when I decided to pursue the Biomedical Sciences course at the local technical college. This was the first time in my life that I genuinely fell in love with the medical field. Through that program I was given the opportunity to volunteer in hospitals, my community, and find a true joy in what I was learning. It was the first time in my life that I felt called to something. The passion continued to grow through my years in college. Not only did that course nurture my love, but it taught me new opportunities to further understand it. I was able to get involved in volunteer work in hospitals. With one opportunity standing out more than the others being the free clinic I volunteered in. In this clinic every medical professional in addition to those who volunteered to assist were working for free. This was time they spent outside of their jobs to help provide free healthcare to the community. In my life I have struggled quite a bit. Whether this was losses of family members, seeing family member medically struggle, or financial issues. In this clinic I witnessed people who had been enduring similar situations to my own. I watched the way the nurses took care of these people. I also still hear the statement "this is real healthcare," ringing in my head every time I sit down to think how hard my journey has been. There is a lot of power in being a nurse. There is a wide range of opportunities and they're given incredible abilities to meet a wide range of people. There is also a level of tragedy involved in being a nurse. These are all things that mean a great deal to me and drive me to be a nurse. I want to carry my own experiences and use them to foster an environment and love that I'd want from my own nurses for my patients. One goal of mine is to make my family proud and become the first nurse in our family. In doing so I hope to genuinely understand those who will be in my care. Ultimately, I want to carry out just what that nurse told me, also known as "real healthcare," which means being able to grit through the toughest moments because I'm helping that person through what may be their worse times.

In life there are so many moments where we are able to express emotion. In the darkest corner of our reality is the earth-shattering ones that make us question ourselves. Mental health has always been a topic that was a whisper amongst my family. It was something that if we left it unnoticed maybe it would go away. The truth of the matter was that plan didn't succeed. As the crippling abilities of mental health crept into our lives often. I grew up with a mother who loved me and my siblings more then the world itself. One who truly embodied the statement that she was willing to sacrifice everything for her children. My biological father however was someone who did love us, but didn't know selflessness. He was consumed by the horrific thoughts that circulated in his mind. These thoughts would turn him towards drugs to try to ease the pain of his feelings. This placed a strain on his relationship with our entire family. As despite the fact he loved us he could never choose us. His mental health would ultimately turn him away from wanting help or even choosing his family. He struggled with depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. All disorders that would consume his thoughts and would tarnish his actions. This mindset would spread to me and my brothers. We grew up to struggle with our own mental health battles. Children are impressionable and watching a parent suffer so harshly can place a strain on our own minds. Some stemming from the way we felt betrayed by our father, but in other ways the battled we endured ourselves because of it. The seed that mental health planted in our family would be the destruction of a lot of great moments. It would also be something that shaped us all as individuals. A pain in particular that would always stick with me. It also taught me a deeper level of empathy. Mental health would be the reason I'd lose my older brother. A combination of the strain our father's mental health placed on us, and the harsh realities that followed with that. Something that I fight and struggle with everyday. He was someone who I lived with when I first started college, and the first person I ever looked up to besides my mother. I shared my aspirations with him about the medical field often. Particularly my dream about being a nurse. I wanted someday to be the healing factor in someone's' life. This was something that he would encourage in me and commend my passion. My relationship with my brother and witnessing just how cruel his mind was to him made me realize the power that our own thoughts have. The idea of mental health is a sore one for me. I have experienced first hand the battles that our mind can wager and how these wars take a toll on individuals. On another hand, I am admittedly thankful, because through my own struggles and what I've witnessed it will make me a stronger nurse. In my future career I hope to be the bridge to a better life that someone may need. I always wanna be a resource. It has taught me to appreciate individuals more, love harder, and to always look out for others. These are all key things that will not only make me a better person, but a much better nurse.

I wanted my father to just be my father first and foremost before anything. This felt like such a simple thing to ask and surely nothing any child should ever have to beg or strive for. My father served several years in the military. He was already a broken man before he ever stepped foot into the military. In fact he was still picking up the pieces of his childhood and gluing those pieces back together. The army was a new hope for him, and it was something that would make him a better man or so he believed. There's a lot of honor and nobility associated with the military. The sacrifices can never be replicated, and the experiences those people endure can never be taken away. Some come into the army whole, and some are like my father who come already broken. The ripples it can create on these people's lives can go unnoticed. The military gave my already struggling father an even worse fate and that was PTSD. PTSD seemed to take those broken pieces and crumble them until nothing was left. This was the father that I endured and grew up with. He would turn to drugs to help ease the pain. My life would be watching my father enter rehab after rehab. The words would falter and jumble up and down in my mind. He would come to me sober sometimes and it was like the joy was there again. Then the moment he felt PTSD creep back up on his already broken mind it would crumble him again. It was a childhood that I would wish on no child. Before the onset of his diagnosis it was like a creeping shadow that crept onto my father. His demanor would slowly change and the way he would lash out when experiencing episodes would spark fear into the hearts of me and my siblings. This led to the eventual separation of my parents when I was only three years old. My father experienced many of his friends pass away, and those who were close to him falter mentally. There was times I would see the bond he shared with those who shared his feelings. The military worked to help him by placing him in homes with other soldiers battling similar issues. To help hold accountability, and sometimes I even stayed there. It never lasted long before it consumed him again. My father today is considered 100% disabled by the military partially due to injuries sustained during his service, and partially due to his mental illness. PTSD took away my father from me. A part of him will never be the same and this is something I will always have to carry with me. Moments like those I shared with my father shaped me truly as a human being. The empathy I have for people who have felt me and my family's pain, and for human beings in general are rooted in the suffering of watching my father's mental illness. One day when I become a nurse I only hope that I can shed light on families experiencing the same thing and extend a helping hand, one that is full of understanding like no other.

The medical field in itself has always been a bumpy road for me. With any passion it felt so surreal entering college and being able to pursue something that felt so real for me. This path was never mean't to be easy, but this was something I for sure hadn't known yet. I bobbled quite a bit and found myself being thrown between career choice to career choice. There was even moments where it felt like I never was gonna reach my destination. Despite it all, passion shines and provides a guiding light. It shone me to many opportunities. I've always been a person who loves being apart of something and actively sought places to be where I could surround myself with others. This is where I found my passion for trying new clubs and interacting with different people. These invaluble moments would teach me so many things and develop my journey further than I would ever know. Through these I would find some of my most important experiences with the medical field. Growing up as a child I was always an athlete and I had the thought in my head that I was gonna be a physical therapy and that was it. Coming from a family where almost nobody attended college, it was a wide path. All I knew was my mother had told me that was right for me, and I definitely always listen to my mother. My senior year of high school I found myself in a Bio-med course that was taught at the local technical college. I flourished in this class. I felt genuinely excited to come to the class so much so that I would show up 15 minutes early to this class every morning. I fell in love with every second of it. I would go on to become president of my HOSA chapter, and even earn the accolodate of Bio-med student of the year. This would be the first moment in my life that I would find my own true answer to what I wanted to be and start me on the path to being a nurse. I would go onto to continue my experience in college by then volunteering in free clinics, hospitals, and eventually being where I am now as a scribe. There was always a spark I saw in myself and others could pinpoint when talking to me about these things. The giddiness it felt when I was able to learn something new, or extend a helping hand to someone in need. I never claimed to be the smartest person in the room, and there was definitely was many, many, many moments of failure. I've fallen, and even reached to low points of feeling hopeless. Just as I mentioned above the idea of being a nurse has still continued to guide me. Even when I failed my first class in my entire life I knew that I had to dust myself off because there's a bright future ahead of me. I know i'll never be truly happy unless I pursue this passion to the fullest. It's simply hard to put into words how much success would mean to me in this field, and how dire it feels to me everyday. I will continue to chase this feeling, because I know being able to suceed in this field would bring me a joy like no other.

There's a lot knocking at your door when you attempt to step out of the limitations life has put you in. The truth is life, and my mind can work hand in hand in many egregious crimes. One step forward, and i'm wacked with the hammer and back down again. One door opened and my mind is waiting waving its fingers. How dare I threaten the natural balance that the world and my mind has placed for me. Don't dare cross the red line, or "you will be punished!" My mind particularly does this quite a bit to me. In the mental health stance of things. If I dare to succeed my anxiety works its darnest to shut me down or put me in my place. "Someone like you isn't worthy of this success," or "You're never gonna make it." Those are my mind's favorite sentences to say to me in my worse hours. My mind actually has a cute nickname from me, I call her Anxiety! Anxiety is an influential factor in all things Meagan (thats me of course). She dabbles in my relationships, beliefs, and career aspirations. In fact, sometimes I think she is a expert in what she does. Her undeniable talent with words is outstanding. She articulates and knows how to find the just right things to say when she wants to tear you down. In relationships she's quite jealous and reminds me that I'm not good enough for anyone else. That i'm not worthy of love and there's no point to try. She tries really hard to separate me from the people who loves me, sometimes she is successful, but I try often to not let her win. In my beliefs she makes me anxious constantly. Reminding me that i'm not doing the right things, that I need to do better. She makes me believe things about myself that others would say isn't quite the truth. She's just so persistent sometimes its so easy to give into it. Don't get me started on my career aspirations, anxiety is all over that! Over my shoulder reminding me that i'm gonna fail, and should probably just stop it now. When she finally realizes that i'm not gonna stop or give up she'll resort to, "oh no! you're right! you're in too deep to stop now, guess you really can't fail now." It can be destructive and discouraging, but at least I haven't let it consume me. Despite all the work that anxiety puts into destroying things I will continue to go on with my life. Always picking up the pieces every time and gluing them back together.

I find it funny that something I can't even see has found its way into the core of my being. The truth is that anxiety follows me everywhere, much like a best friend. In fact, I think anxiety would even stake claim to that. It does everything that any ordinary best friend would do. It goes everywhere with me, participates in every activity I do, goes to all the same places, shares all the same interests, and even has mutual friend groups. The only exclusion is that I would have to say our relationship has grown more and more toxic over the years. Anxiety used to be a small voice in my ear that would gossip to me about how this individual didn't like me, or if I did this activity "its true!" "everyone will hate you!" She however grew louder as we both developed and grew. Anxiety is a really good friend though, I swear it! she was there in my childhood years when I watched my father leave and come back repeatedly. She reminded me, "it's okay. he probably doesn't even love you so it doesn't matter." She was also there when he eventually left for good. She kindly reminded me it was probably my fault, but "don't worry he's gone now!" She was there on the bus with me when I would ride it to high school. She'd watch me awkwardly fumble with my phone, sink into a seat, and read to ignore my surroundings. She coddled me with sweet words reminding me that it's okay if everyone thought I was weird, or that nobody actually liked me. I appreciate her for being realistic with me, and always sticking with me until the end. This is only something a real friend would do. It's hard to be in public with anxiety sometimes. She gets her loudest when i'm around others, or especially when i'm alone! She sometimes makes trips to the grocery stores harder than they should be, and she can even makes those nights alone extra hard. She tells me she is comforting me with the truth, and I don't know whether to believe her or not. It's strange though, although she's pretty great I see her with other people quite a lot. The truth of the matter is anxiety is quite popular. She's everywhere in fact! I don't particularly like when she decides to hang out with my siblings. In fact, I find her words to them very unkind, and they never seem to respond very well. The weirdest part of it all is I first met anxiety when I saw my father. I used to watch the ways in which she spoke to him. I never used to like it back in the day, but she always reassured me she meant the best. I used to watch the way she'd whisper in his ears, he always made the worse decisions when she came back. I never knew what she said, only what she told me. Anxiety is a friend to many people in fact. Some she isn't as close with, some she is extremely close, but to me Anxiety is my best friend. Now that i'm saying this, I really need to get a new friend.....