I started out leaving home at 18 with only a GED and an aspiration to not make the same mistakes as my friends and family members. I succeeded and made different ones. Some mistakes were from lack of information, some from lack of experience, some from poor dating choices, some because I just couldn’t make up my mind on what I actually wanted to do.

I initially wanted to be like my Dad, the only person in my immediate family that did not fail. He is an Electrical Engineer… however I am Female… and I have since learned that just because you can do something— doesn’t mean you should. I got my foot in the door with tool and die setting, and progressed into maintenance. I started taking classes as I could afford them and make time for them. I didn’t have enough time to complete an engineering degree while working. Also, with the amount of time and stress I saw in the engineering world… I grew to fear putting all of my money into a degree just to have to work MORE. Maintenance and Engineering is a lot of hours, and a horrible schedule in most places. Moving to another state without a degree or someone in the vicinity vouching for you is near impossible. I also bring the female issue into this because of three reasons:

1. Some people will say you just got the job due to indecent acts.

2. Some places will hire you BECAUSE you are female… not because of your value. Companies are required to have a certain amount of diversity on their teams, and you as a woman fit that bill in a male dominated field. This diminishes your self-worth.

3. You will lose some social etiquette; you do pick up habits of the people around you. If you are a woman working around men all the time, you will find yourself holding yourself as a man. For example, the cowboy pose… or putting your hands on your hips and jutting one hip out to rest one leg.

Needless to say, I have learned that I do not want to be like my dad.

I decided to change. I chose nursing initially due to the workdays. On average, Nursing is three days a week of twelve-hour days. They have excellent benefits. Also, after working my way through the first few anatomy classes, I started developing more personal reasons for wanting to start being a Nurse. I began realizing health problems I had, as well as how to address them. I learned that Doctors don’t bother to explain why they recommend different things, and that if they did, we would probably make different life choices. (This is not to say all doctors are like this, I have been to a few really good doctors.) However, I had some really simple health problems due to vitamin deficiencies and was simply ecstatic to resolve these problems by adding simple things to my diet.

Here are my building blocks on transitioning to a different lifestyle, as well as my mistakes for you to critique and build from. My hope is to help you avoid the mistakes that I made and build a future for yourself.