Finding Joy in the Journey---Now

Well, it's almost time. I’m about to embark on the last semester of my undergraduate career. The semester officially started Monday, but for me, all classes are on Thursday. Besides the emphasis this semester on Public Health Nursing, I will be completing my Capstone project which entails 210 clinical hours at a hospital with a “nurse preceptor” (basically, a nurse, that I work with at the hospital), a scholarly paper, and a project. I will be doing my hours at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake. While I’m not looking forward to the hour drive from Provo, it will definitely be worth it. In doing my Pediatric clinical there a year ago, I fell in love with the hospital and the Infant Medical Surgical Unit—the same unit on which I get to do my capstone hours!

Primary Children's has a different feel than normal hospitals. Colorful children’s artwork covers the walls and there’s cute, seasonal, kid-oriented décor everywhere. A happy and hopeful atmosphere radiates there. The first time I walked through the hospital, I saw a nurse coming out of a patient’s room and the nurse immediately spoke into his phone “Hey, I need to find a way to get a Play Station up here,” as if it was a vital medication. Right from the start, I knew Primary Children’s hospital was special.

Yesterday, to ease myself into the school year and the crowds of people, I made the trek up to campus to do a few errands. I picked up an academic calendar—the same one printed by BYU that I purchase each Fall Semester. On the first page of the planner, there’s a quote by President Thomas S. Monson:

“Day by day, minute by minute, second by second we went from where we were to where we are now. The lives of all of us, of course, go through similar alterations and changes. The difference between the changes in my life and the changes in yours is only in the details. Time never stands still; it must steadily march on, and with the marching come the changes…I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.”

The moment I read this, while walking down the hill from campus, I silently declared it my motto for the semester. I want to leave BYU feeling like I took advantage of all opportunities. I want to make sure I gleaned everything possible from each small learning experience. I’m feeling the significance of being done with school soon, finding a job in the real world, and many other big changes that life is about to throw at me. What better counsel is there to follow than from the living prophet?

So here’s to early morning drives, to lots of 12 hour shifts, to my umpteen page scholarly paper, to 4 hour classes and weekly quizzes, to bazillions of NCLEX prep questions, and to hours of reading and studying. Here's to learning how to really be a nurse, to my last semester of college, and to finding joy in this journey.