Best Day Ever!

"All your dreams can come true, if you have the courage to pursue them" - Walt Disney

If yesterday was the worst/scariest/most stressful day of my life, then today is definitely one of the top 10 best in my life! But a little background first....

I recently graduated from nursing school in May 2010 and yesterday I sat for the national boards licensure examination (NCLEX) for nursing so that I could obtain my state RN license. Even though I know I could have studied sooo much more than I did in preparation, I went into the test feeling good. I graduated from a college program with a 98% passing rate (first time testers) and had used Kaplan's strategy book and endless questions on Kaplan's Qbank to study. Many people have stated that they felt Kaplan's was a lot harder than the actual NCLEX, so I thought the test was going to be a breeze... boy, was I wrong! Maybe I was just off my game, but the NCLEX was sooo much harder than I thought... my own personal nightmare. I got to question 100 and I literally started to have a panic attack. Tachycardia, tachypnea, papitations, and everything went blurry in my head. By question 150, I asked to go to the bathroom for a break. I had to find some way to calm down, at least enough to finish the exam to whatever ends. I told myself that I just had to finish, even if I didn't pass. Well, the computer FINALLY cut me off at question 160-something... I had stopped counting. I walked out of the testing center relieved that I was done, but devastated with the belief that I had failed. I didn't want to let my family and friends down (everyone had been praying for my success), I didn't want to be the only person from my nursing program to have failed, but more importantly I didn't want to EVER have to relive the nightmare of taking the NCLEX again.

Well, I knew that Virginia board of nursing posts licenses the day after the exam, which is nice since some state BON's like California torture their nursing students by making them wait 6-7 WEEKS for results! So today I got the surprise of my life and the best news ever... I PASSED! There on the tiny screen of my smartphone was the VA BON's license verification website with MY name and license information!!! I'm offically an RN :)

Thanks to my husband, family, friends, and fellow RN-classmates for your love, support, and prayers! I am truly blessed to have such an amazing support system!

If at first you don't succeed... try, try again.

"One fails forward toward success" ~ Charles F. Kettering

I believe someone once said "Tomorrow is another day for opportunity". And my wise husband always tells me not to dwell on things that I cannot control or situations that I cannot change.

During the past year my husband and I have started a new business venture along side our daily jobs. I really wasn't supportive or sold on the idea at first, but soon I learned that it was not only a great opportunity to make some extra money, but to also meet amazing people. To put things simply, our business deals with selling products via an internet supplier. In order to get the products sold, you need customers. A sales strategy that we've been training to execute is making sales pitch to people via "grand openings"... you get a bunch of people together (or just one person) and show them some of the products, let them sample a few, etc. Kinda like the tupperware parties moms like to throw.

So I invited a few friends over and about 6 said that they would be available to come for an hour or so. I was sooo excited! I went shopping, bought food, cleaned the house in preparation for having guests. Two of our friends and mentors in the business were also coming to assist and support me. I really thought this was going to be successful.

Well, life happens unfortunately. Two of my friends bailed out on me and another had a family emergency (aka their kid was sick). So, as it turns out only two of my guests showed in the end and even my mentors couldn't make it because they were stuck in traffic. I felt bad that they were driving all the way from Virginia. It seemed like everything that could go wrong went wrong. I did the best I could trying to pitch the products with what I had (thankfully my husband gave me a little kit of stuff to give out). I felt mediocre and unprepared. It was embarrassing and upsetting. To make things worst, I was still upset about people apparently semi-committing so it was hard for me to keep a smile on my face. I just wanted to curl in a corner and die.

Sales and promotion is really not my level of expertise. I feel like I blunder when I speak and that I'm never prepared when people ask me questions. I don't want people to feel like I'm pushing them to buy from me or that they feel obligated to because we're family/friends/acquaintances. It's not where my confidence lies, but mainly because I lack the experience. I can put in a foley and clean out a patient's tracheostomy, but getting you to buy something is not easy for me. At least my two guests that came (my husband's cousin and her mom who is now his ex-aunt I guess) are family and I believe were genuinely interested in what I had to offer. I was touched and appreciative that they actually stood by their word and came out to support me. Even if they don't buy anything, it meant a lot to me that they came.

I hate the feeling of failure and it's hard for me to not dig myself into a ditch of self-pity and grief. But I am learning to stay positive and not beat myself up over it. If there is one thing starting this business and training has taught me is to not let your failures stop you or bring you down. You will go through many failures before you reach success, but at least you tried!

"The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed" ~ Lloyd Jones

How true those words are to me now and I wouldn't have appreciated such advise had I not experienced this day. I always thought that failing was the end. You're done. You suck. Try something else. It wasn't until today that the light-bulb lit up in my head... all those words people kept telling me finally made sense!

"There is no failure except in no longer trying. "
~ Elbert Hubbard

Tomorrow is always another day for opportunity!!!!