 Thank you so, so much as always for tuning in and taking the time out to watch this vlog. Today's vlog is all about something a bit different. Don't shoot me for this, but I'm gonna be talking about the tough times in nursing. So I'm gonna be completely different to what I'm normally doing because I'm nine times out of 10, everything's so positive and amazing. But we obviously need to talk about the tough challenges within nursing just so that people are more prepared when they come into nursing as well. And it's not such a shock that, oh my God, this isn't as easy as people make out. So yeah, so that's why I wanted to cover this and hopefully just prepare people a bit more for nursing life. And some of you who have followed my journey from the start will know how tough it's been for me. I've done vlogs where I've just sat and I've just stopped because I've just had such a bad day or something's happened or it's been so emotional and I've just cried about it. And it's just human, you know, we are not robots, guys. We are human beings at the end of the day. It's okay to cry. It's okay to show emotion. We are human, so don't worry if you do get emotional. Which brings me nicely on to my first one, which is talking about emotions. So the toughest part of the role has to be emotions and dealing with that emotion. Like I said, you're not a robot. You are gonna have some emotion. But there's times where you will compose yourself for the patient because you need to be there for the patient at the end of the day. So as long as you're doing your job and it's okay, then don't worry about it. But for me, I am a big, big empath. This is a real thing. Gonna put the description below. And for me, this is where I absorb the people's emotions. So if someone is really upset, if someone's really having a hard time, I will really feel that emotion from them. And then it makes me really emotional. And then I start, I'll cry. Just feel that emotion. And it can be really tough. That's the really tough part I found about nursing. So it's really, really important. If you are that sort of person that does get quite emotional and involved in other people's feelings and emotions, then you have to make sure that you're taking time out for yourself. Make sure you just have a moment to yourself throughout the day, just to take 10 minutes, switch off, recharge, do some meditations and breathing techniques, whatever works for you. Do a hobby, knitting, whatever you wanna do. Just take that time out to make sure that you are okay because you need to be okay to be able to do your job at the end of the day. So it's really important that you give some self-care, self-love and get back to it. Because otherwise you're gonna burn out and burn out is another tough part of nursing. You will burn out at some point if you keep going like that and you don't get the support and you don't get the help and you're not addressing those emotional needs of your own. So yes, avoid that, but just be mindful. It's an emotional job. And the second toughest challenge of being a nurse or a student nurse all the way through your nursing life career is very physical. So it's not only just emotionally draining, it is physically exhausting as well. You're gonna be on your feet for 12 hours on a ward, nonstop, sometimes you might not even get a break. It can be really, really hard. So it's really important you look after your feet and your back. So remembering your manual handling techniques, stay hydrated, it lubricates the body, lubricates the spine, keep yourself healthy, keep yourself nourished and get some really good footwear that's gonna support your feet and you throughout your nursing career. And not only that, but you're gonna be exposed to so many sick patients as well. So if your immune system's low already from whatever reason, you're gonna pick up bugs and things like that and you might be off sick yourself. So just be mindful of that as well. At the minute with all the PPE and the hand washing infection control is on point, should be on point. Hopefully that's gonna reduce your risk of catching those nasties that you don't wanna catch. So I've spoken about emotion briefly at the start. I just wanna move on to the third point, the psychological point to nursing. This is a very, very demanding job, like I said, emotionally, physically and your psychological mental health wellbeing might take a dip at some point. So this is why it's really important to get that help and that support from your colleagues, from your friends, from your uni friends, from mental health teams, from counselling services, anything like that. Please make sure you get the support you need because like I said, it is a really hard, challenging job and it's really important that you look after your own psychological wellbeing as well. Number four is, so this is an adult course and that might be an issue for some people because in school, like college, you sort of get spoon fed all of the information. There's always someone there to help you but this is an adult degree now that you're gonna be doing or an adult apprenticeship, whatever route you're taking into nursing and some people struggle with that because nobody's giving you the answers, they're just saying here, here's your assignment brief, here's a bit of information, now go and do it yourself and you're just left to it and that's a degree, that's just the way it is. You have to think for yourself, you need to do the research, you need to do the Googling, you need to do all of that information because that is what you're gonna be doing as a nurse, you're out there on your own, if you're in GP, you're on your own, you're in your own clinic, if someone comes to you and you don't know something, you haven't got lecturers and stuff there to say, oh yeah, hi, can you give me the answer to this? No, you need to do the research and you need to find out for yourself and that just makes you a good nurse as well. You know, doing the research, doing the evidence-based practice, it's all good nursing care, so that's why the degree is that way, throw in the information, you have to go and deal with it because that's what it's gonna be like out there as a nurse, not to scare you all, don't worry, there is support available at your university as well for academic stuff and things like that, so don't worry and when you're out there on placement, you'll have your mentors and even as a GP nurse, I've got my doctors, I've got my nurses as well if I ever need to question anything, so I'm not trying to scare you but I need to put in there that it's self-learning and some people find that challenging. And here at number five, I have put patients attitudes. I was trying to figure out how to rephrase this and reword it but I'm just gonna keep it as patient attitudes because some people might have a problem with the way someone else thinks we're all different at the end of the day, the way I see things in a positive, happy way is not another way that someone else might see it, they might really hate that sort of being, I suppose, I don't know, but just because you're patient is making a decision that you don't agree with, doesn't make them wrong at the end of the day as long as you've given them all of the informed choices and you've explained everything and they say no to you, sorry, I don't want your help, I'm gonna happily smoke and make my COPD worse, for example, that's on them, that's their responsibility and that's okay, that's their choice, it's their decision. And that is sometimes the struggle in nursing is when you're trying to help these patients and you're thinking, oh, why can't you just do this and this should be so much better and they're just like, no, don't want to, sorry, and that's just the way it is, you have to accept that, you have to accept different cultures, different religions, just because you don't agree with it or it's not your point of view, doesn't mean it's wrong, like I said, you have to respect your patients and their wishes at the end of the day, you have to respect their wishes as a nurse, whether you agree or not, it's irrelevant, it's impartial, you've got that impartial head on and you're treating the patient as you would any other patient, it's just the way it is, guys. So the next one is the tough challenges with mentors, you might not see eye to eye, doctors around you, you might not see eye to eye, eye to eye, eye to eye, eye to eye, and healthcare assistants, anyone in the team really, like I said, we're all different people, we have personality clashes, that's just normal life, but as long as you stay professional and maintain that professionalism, you can't go wrong, just kill them with kindness at the end of the day, if someone's got a being there bonnet and they're taking it out on you, kill them with kindness, I find that works very, very well, and at the end of the day, you've done the best you can, so you can go home happy. Sometimes it's just a personality clash, it's just the way it is, it's a stressful environment, people are busy, people are rushed off the feet, and you are the person they might just snap at that just one time or three times a day, you never know, but yes, if it gets to a point where it's bullying, harassing you, it's getting that bad, you need to speak up, you need to go to your manager, you need to go to your placement teams, you need to go to university, you need to speak up about it because that bullying culture is not acceptable and we need to nip it in the bud straight away, that's not acceptable. However, personality clashes are gonna happen, so yeah, just, and move on. Now, interestingly at number seven, I have put relationships because doing this nursing degree is tough, the workload is insane, you're gonna be 24 seven busy doing your work, doing your assignments, doing your exams, doing your revision, doing your placements, then you've got work extra to get money, it's gonna be really, really stressful for your personal relationships at home and if you haven't got a supportive partner or if there's any cracks already in that relationship, that relationship's just gonna drop, not to scare you, but this is what has happened out there, I haven't seen it personally myself but I've seen it other people and other relationships and how that's happened, it's just been such a stressful time that it has broken people and it has caused relationships to break up and marriages to break down, so it's really important that you sit down and you have that conversation with your partner and say, listen, this is how it is, this is how the next three years is gonna be, it's gonna be horrendous, but I need your support, so just having that open conversation with them is gonna help massively at the start, I think and fingers crossed, they're gonna be supportive, if it's meant to be, they're gonna love you no matter what and they're gonna support you, so take that. Here at number eight, the worst one of them all, I have added politics, nursing politics is ridiculous, I hate getting involved in any type of politics, there's so many legislations, there's so many changes, there's things that you're not gonna agree with, for example, funding of the nurses courses, it's constantly up and down like that, parking charges at hospitals is ridiculous, why anyone should park to pay to park at a hospital when you work there is, it baffles me, it really does, but I suppose they need to make money somehow, but yeah, all these little politics are gonna be really frustrating and that is another tough part of the course and speaking about funding, number nine is all about money and funds, this can be a really tough aspect for some people because you've been working full time, for example, you've got kids to feed, you've got partners to feed, I don't know, dogs and animals to feed, you've got so many bills going out and suddenly you're a student, you're having to pay for your course, some people have to pay for their course, you're having to work extra to get extra money as well so that you can cover your bills, it is really tough, the money financial side of it is tough, but it is doable, I mean, we've all done it, we've all been there and we've all done it, so it is doable, I had to work around the course to do mine and pay my bills, I was quite fortunate that, sorry, I don't mean fortunate, but I didn't have children or anything like that, so I didn't have that section to worry about, but my friends did have children and they worked really, really well, they managed to smash everything and finish the course with really good grades as well, so it's about just managing things and alternations, I suppose, and coping with it and you will find your own routine and ways of doing things, so don't panic too much, but money and funds, you have to think about. And last but not least, number 10, placements. So think about the toughest part of the degree is the placement because you have to think about distance, most of my placements, apart from two, I think they were all nearly two hours away on buses and trains, it was horrendous and when you're doing a 12 hour shift plus the time difference each way to get there and back, you're gonna be exhausted, you're gonna be unable to just do anything because you're just so tired and you just want to spend the day just sleeping, it can be exhausting, so if you're applying to university, think about the placements, think about which uni you wanna apply to, think about the placements and where they're gonna be, can you physically get there for 7 a.m., can you get home safely as well? And then not only that, but you have to think about the type of placement you're gonna get, so for me, I knew I wasn't a fan of wards, so whenever I had a ward placement, I would just be like, and it really got me down and I had to keep reminding myself, do you know what, this is only for eight weeks, this is only for 10 weeks, this is only for so many weeks, just get your head down, do the best you can for your patients, learn as much as you can, absorb all of the information and just pass with flying colours just to get to the end and be where I wanna be. It's really important that if you're having a placement that you're not enjoying, just to try and make the best of it, try and make use of all the opportunities, sit with different people, MDT teams, go for pathways and theatres and things like that, do everything you can to make the most of that placement, don't just, you know, just let it pass you by and you haven't gained anything from it, just make the most of it, is probably my biggest tip for that one. So that is it, that is my top 10 things that I find the most challenging or tough about nursing in general, the nursing degree, now as a qualified nurse as well, some of these things are the same, but what I wanna point out is actually nine times out of 10, it's amazing, I wouldn't be here if I didn't love it, I love being a nurse, I love helping people, I love coming home at the end of the day and thinking, do you know what, I've just helped someone today, I've just changed somebody's attitude, I've changed someone's life, I've potentially saved a life, it's the most rewarding, amazing career and these little things that I've spoke about today, they're just minor little things that you can overcome and it's very rare you have really crappy, crappy days on end like weeks and weeks, it's like a one-off, it's one-off bad days here and there or things that you struggle with here and there, it's not a lifetime thing and the good outweighs the bad by far, it might not be for everyone, there are people I know that struggle daily and it's just not for them and that's fine, but all in all, it's amazing, it's fantastic, I wouldn't be anywhere else obviously, but yeah, it's just about finding the challenges and overcoming them, keep going though, keep being amazing and you'll do just fine and that is it from me guys, I hope this has been a useful video, just talking about the tough times and the challenges, I hope it's given you some food for thought like I said, but obviously if you are struggling at any point, please get help and support, that's the most important thing, don't suffer in silence, don't be too proud to ask for help, there are people there to help you at the end of the day and if they're not helping you and you've spoken up about it, go higher, if they're not listening, go higher, go all the way to the top if you have to, but just make sure you get that support because nursing's tough as it is and this is why I wanted to create YouTube channels as well to help people because it is tough and if I can help someone just by doing one little video, then so be it, it's yeah, we need all the help we can as nurses guys, so yes, anyway, goodbye for now, I shall see you next time.