A fair amount of students in the AOM program have families. Some
students are married, some have children, and some are single
parents. Whatever the situation is, having a family while being a
student is usually viewed as extremely rewarding, but also a
juggling act at times. Being in school with the motivation of
family supporting you, or for single parents, to support your loved
one(s) is such a root source of motivation from my
perspective.
This week I interviewed one of my best friends and fellow
students, Cynthia, who is a single mom in the program. I think she
is extremely inspiring and motivating. She is a nurse, RN, in
the AOM program. She is also pursuing her nurse practitioner degree
and working two part-time jobs while raising her son. Within just a
few minutes of meeting Cynthia, it was clear that her source
motivation for pushing herself so hard was to make the best life
possible for her son. She also has a heartfelt passion to help
others, which I think is rather clear from her career choices.
From Cynthia's Perspective:
"Being a mom and going to school requires a lot of multi
tasking. I am cooking while doing my homework as well as helping my
child while he does his homework. My work is never done. I feel
like I spend most of my time in my car with dropping and picking
him up from school, dropping and picking him up from whoever is the
sitter that day, and driving back and forth from school. It's
exhausting and I am always drained, but I never quit working
towards my goals even though sometimes I want to. I know it's
temporary and my reward in the end will be great. My child further
increases my drive to better myself because I know his life will be
better as well. By the time I'm done with school he will have been
to 3 or 4 of my college graduations!"
I think Cynthia summarizes how many parents in the program feel.
At times, being a parent, husband or wife and a full-time student
may feel overwhelming, but that overwhelming feeling is fleeting.
It cannot compete with the overall satisfaction that will come when
we have accomplished our goals and are out practicing the medicine.
We will be able to offer help to others to the best of our
abilities while having complete peace of mind that our families are
being supported.