---
title: "Looking Back: A Nursing Student's Year in Review | ThriveAP"
description: "By Nursing Student and ThriveAP Contributor Ashley Prince It’s time to wrap up the holiday season with one of my favorites- New Year’s! Time for endless “Best/Worst of 2015” slideshows, Facebook Year In Reviews, voluntarily staying up obscenely late, and making goals that will hopefully last through Valentine’s Day. I realized a while ago that … Looking Back: A Nursing Student’s Year in Review Read More »"
---

# Looking Back: A Nursing Student’s Year in Review

By Nursing Student and [ThriveAP Contributor Ashley Prince](https://thriveap.com/blog/how-not-be-useless-during-nursing-school-clinicals)

It’s time to wrap up the holiday season with one of my favorites- New Year’s! Time for endless “[Best/Worst of 2015](https://thriveap.com/blog/2015s-top-blog-posts-aspiring-nurse-practitioners)” slideshows, Facebook Year In Reviews, voluntarily staying up obscenely late, and making goals that will hopefully last through Valentine’s Day. I realized a while ago that I love New Year’s because I love new beginnings, chances to start over and to become more of myself (whoever that ends up being).

It’s been one hell of a year though- I got braces again at 22, graduated from Ohio State, moved back home, traveled to some new cities, and got myself into[ this awesome, insane ABSN nursing program](https://thriveap.com/blog/aint-no-rest-weary-nursing-student). *So this New Year’s Eve I’ve decided instead to focus not so much on where I want to go, but how far I’ve come*.

If someone had told me I would be calling a thirty minute drive at 5:30 in the morning “not bad at all because I get to avoid rush hour”, I’d probably ask them what drugs they were taking. In undergrad, if I got less than seven hours of sleep[ I felt like a zombie](https://thriveap.com/blog/7-tips-staying-married-when-you-work-night-shift). Now five will work and a few cups of coffee will pick up the slack. I never thought that I would move back into my parents’ house, and I couldn’t have predicted which friendships I would lose after graduation, or the close, different [brand of friendship that nursing students seem to have](https://thriveap.com/blog/4-subtle-differences-between-msn-and-rn-student-experience).

Until I started my program, I got mad if my lunch break wasn’t long enough to watch Game of Thrones; now I’ve experienced 12 hour shifts with 5 minute lunches. Last year I wouldn’t have let TGIT go to the DVR, or passed up social invitations to go out because “these drugs aren’t going to memorize themselves” (actual statement used by me a few too many times during pharmacology). A year ago I hadn’t changed WoundVACs, pulled NG tubes, pushed IV meds, or gone eight hours without peeing. But, a year ago I wasn’t [on my way to becoming a nurse](https://thriveap.com/blog/2015s-top-blog-posts-aspiring-nurse-practitioners).

I’ve got a long way to go before I graduate, and still longer before I’m the nurse I want to be. But I’ve definitely come a long way from the sleeping in,[ ew-I’m-not-measuring-pee bum I started out as](https://thriveap.com/blog/1-apps-tracking-number-2s), and I’m proud of everything I’ve done this year. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

***What have you done this year that you’re proud of? Let me know in the comments!***

 

You Might Also Like: [6 Steps to Job Shadowing a Nurse Practitioner Like a Boss](https://thriveap.com/blog/6-steps-job-shadowing-nurse-practitioner-boss)

 

[Nurse Practitioner Students](https://provider.thriveap.com/blog/tag/nurse-practitioner-students)

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