This is a guest blog post written by Jeff Wendling, a student in Marian's Indianapolis accelerated nursing program. His first bachelor's degree is in business. His anticipated graduation date from Marian University is May 2013.
While selling medical equipment for nearly 20 years, I had the opportunity to work with nurses in hospitals on a regular basis. During this time, I developed a profound respect for nurses and the services they offered to patients. I respected their knowledge of science and the way they applied this knowledge to comfort and heal people who were very much in need. Simply put, I had a front row seat to watch nurses and other medical professionals positively change the lives of patients, and I wanted to be a part of their team!
As time passed, I began to identify more and more with the mission of nurses and less with my job of selling products to them. Unfortunately, I felt stuck because I had neither the knowledge base nor credentials to help patients in need. Besides, at that stage in my career, I couldn't imagine a scenario where I would be able to go back to school and achieve a degree in nursing; I didn’t have the time or the money, and changing careers at any point in life is a very risky proposition. Therefore, like most of my friends, I continued on with my career, feeling somewhat defeated by it while it left me mentally and emotionally unsatisfied.
Thankfully, I reached a point where I realized I would never truly be happy unless I followed my dream of becoming a nurse. This realization made me bold and eventually led me down a path to meeting the requirements of nursing school and, subsequently, starting nursing school. I can’t remember a time in my life when I have felt more intellectually and emotionally liberated! Currently in my last semester, I truly am finding happiness knowing that I'm bold enough to achieve my dreams.