I was 19 yrs old when I had my bachelor’s degree in Nursing and passed the national board exam in the Philippines. 20, when I passed the NCLEX exam. I thought back then it was pretty awesome that I have achieved all of these at a very young age. Little did I know that the real world is tougher than what it seems. I wasn’t ready for the competition, the hospitals looking for work experience they are not willing to give you, the BIG difference between Philippines’ health care and the america’s. It was too much for me. But I was already bored and too depressed to stay home and spend the whole afternoon in front of the laptop trying to find nursing jobs. So I worked as a receptionist at a dental clinic. You gotta start somewhere right? And after that I’ve transferred from assisted living to home care to subacute and to a blood center. Anywhere. Just to start. And I have always told my self that I will make my way up to the top. It may be slow, but I will be there. It took me 5 years to finally land a job at the hospital (not just any hospitals, my dream hospital!! Stanford Hospital!) and this is one of the best and most fulfulling moments of my nursing career. I feel like I’m finally reaping all my hard work and patience and of course my mom’s hard work and encouragement and all the money she spent on me to go to nursing school. I think what I want to say is, when you work hard for something, you pray really hard for it, and God sees you deserving of it, you will eventually get it no matter how impossible it is. With God, nothing is impossible. 🙂