Hok, so to be honest this was something I wrote for one of my TR classes. But it's pretty in depth about why I'm doing what I'm doing so I wanted to post it (:
My Turning Point
I don't think I've had a turning point so much as I've had just one long journey along this big, wide rode that's taken me towards recreation therapy. This rode has always been pointed towards recreation therapy ever since before I can remember.
I have always had this burning, painful need to help other people. My mother tells me about when I was little and would see people with impairments and express my need to help them. Before I found recreation therapy I was going to have a mansion where I would house and help homeless people to get back on their feet, or be a hairdresser so that I could be the person with whom women talked through their problems. I wanted to visit the jail to bring them cookies and be their friend, I figured an influential friend was a good first step to changing their perspective on life and their attitude towards others. I was going to be a school teacher and inspire the next generation to be better than the ones before them. I've always wanted to change the world, to inspire individuals to be better and thus to make it a better place. I've always believed it was the people who made the difference everywhere and in everything.
I guess I just kept coming up with ways to inspire and help people, but they just kept not working for me. When I entered college I thought I could inspire and help people by being a motivational speaker, but that quickly turned out to be another plan that just wouldn't work. So, I went to my counselor and told him about my dilemma. I asked him if there were any majors left where I could help people, where I could still motivate people to become better. He told me there were two: psychology and recreational therapy. I knew psychology wouldn't be an option because I had a hard time and hated sitting still. As he told me more about recreation therapy I became elated that there was still a way to help, that I could do therapy and help all sorts of people and have tons of fun while doing it. So, I joined and here I am.
I love this Amy! I've chosen to study nursing for many of the same reasons. There are so many people in need and nursing provides so many opportunities to serve. I find it so rewarding when someone trusts you enough to put their care in your hands. I remember an experience I had when I was in high school and completing an internship at my local hospital. I was assisting the nurses in the ER, almost as a candy striper, when I met a woman who was all alone and experiencing severe abdominal pain. She was very scared and had no one to call to meet her. I sat with her a while and stayed with her while she received most of her treatment and a friend was finally able to come see her. Afterward she came up to me in tears and told me how grateful she was that I cared about her. It was an incredible compliment and It helped me to know for sure that I want to be a nurse.
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