An Intro to my journey

Hi, my name is Ashley. I am just starting my first year of my Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Trent University. I embarked on my journey in this field in 2018 fresh out of high school when I got accepted to Trent in the Honours Science program, I knew I wanted to get into nursing but try as I might I did not get in. However, in 2020, I was accepted to Fleming College for my Diploma in Practical Nursing. I finished that, got registered with the College of Nurses of Ontario, and have been working for almost 2 years as an RPN before applying to Trent’s Nursing program again and getting accepted this time.

This journey has been a long one for me, one that I have worked extremely hard to get to where I am. After already working in the healthcare profession for a little while now I have some insight into the areas I enjoy working and the areas I don’t enjoy as much. Having this experience I have thought about where I desired my career to possibly go but it is very much up in the air still. I would love to do some travel nursing after a couple more years of experience here in Ontario, I want to go down to the states and do some nursing down there to experience the difference in health care. There are also a couple areas of nursing I want to try out, for example: intensive care or labour and delivery nursing these are areas I have seen as an RPN but have not gotten the opportunity to work in. However, I am still very open and there are still many more things I want to do with my career maybe even 5+ years down the line. I am a woman who for some reason thoroughly enjoys school, for the most part, and getting to further myself and my knowledge, so I have thought about going back to school again after this degree to do my master’s either to become a Nurse Practitioner or a Teacher and get to teach the future nursing students. As a student again I get to go back to some of the fundamentals of nursing and further build on what I had gotten from college.  University is a way for me to expand the knowledge I have gained over the last two years and a way for me to further where I can go in the future, the possibilities are endless.

I have a lot of passion and love for this field even in the ups and downs of all its aspects even the ones that may not be so desirable to do. This field that I and many others have chosen is not for the faint of heart it is a tough field, and it pushes you almost to your breaking point. It is one that requires selfless compassion so much so that you must remind yourself to take care of yourself to take care of others. I know from previous experience this road I have decided to embark on, once again, is going to be tough but I know how worth it it’ll be in the end. For now, I am taking this one day at a time, because before I know it this journey will be over, and I’ll be on to the next adventure.