Matching socks, or not? Tennis shoes, or boots? Clean underwear, or... meh? These are all decisions with which I am comfortable struggling on a daily basis. I understand how to make them, have made them many times before, and understand the consequences of each. But what happens when a choice comes a long that one is wholly un-prepared to make?
Paralysis of choice, I believe originates with Barry Schwartz (check out his TED talk about the very thing Barry Schwartz). The general idea is that choice, which is 'supposed' to bring freedom to individuals actually finishes by taking away a certain amount of freedom by locking us in an impossible space where the very ubiquity of choice leads to to choice being made.
For me, it's a question of missing out. FOMO. Look it up Urban Dictionary.
There are SO many fields in nursing from which I could pick! ER, ICU, Med-surg, peds, oncology, labor and delivery, to pursue or not to pursue NP, or CRNA, or DNP... the list is huge... and they all seem promising to me.
We've been asked to make our desires known for our capstone placement this summer. A capstone project is the culmination of all the work in nursing school and provides each student with a significant (albeit safe) amount of autonomy, and an ability to practice one-on-one with a preceptor without half a dozen, or more, other students vying for attention from the same over-worked nurse.
And on top of all that, we're meant to choose between different institutions, too. Stay in town, or go to Indianapolis, or Bloomington or else where. And to make these decisions a third of the way through the second to last semester having not experienced everything we will experience! We hear stories all the time about nurses being hired to the very unit they in which they did their capstone, too.
The resume that is turned in to each hospital to which we apply asks what our one year, five year, and ten year plans are. I wanna say, "Hell if I know." But can't. So I throw in words that look good to those hospitals, like "becoming an expert in my field", or "prioritization", and the holy grail of catch phrases, "evidence based practice".
I have no idea how to make this decision. And what of the consequences? Is this setting up the rest of my career as a nurse, or am I just over thinking it? Either way, to many choices. Just tell me what to do.
Please.
