Personal Statement: Nursing What Is

Personal Statement: Nursing What is a meaningful life? When I first came to the United States many years ago, I thought that success and making a great deal of money were synonymous. From an early age it had been ingrained within me that providing for myself and my future family were essential tasks. Always proficient in the sciences and mathematics, my talents in these areas drove me to seek out a baccalaureate in business administration and a master's degree in economics.

I worked and went to school for many years, thriving on the long hours and the intensity of my commitment to my academic and vocational pursuits. My degree eventually led me to get a job a bank, a position I held for many years until the financial crisis of 2008 hit. My whole world was upended. I had always thought that if I worked hard, the world would be my oyster. I believed in the American Dream.

But my expectations were shattered in an instant, like those of so many people working in my industry of choice. What I had once thought was a stable job was not; I believed that business and economics was the surest path to financial and personal fulfillment. I was wrong. Although the crisis was not caused by a dramatic, external impetus like September 11th, the ramifications of the crisis remained ingrained upon the hearts and minds of all who were involved -- including mine.

I was forced to reconsider what I considered to be meaningful in life, and what I really wanted to do. I came to remember, after much reflection, that working to help others in a hands-on manner had always been what was most significant to me when I was younger. I had always enjoyed helping people when they were ill, even though this was often a burden to others. Combined with my aptitude in biology, chemistry, and calculus, I resolved to return to school and get my nursing degree.

I am about to embark upon a new chapter and a new experiment in my life, far more daring than any of the risks I took in my business career. However, I think there will be a great deal of cross-over of skills between my past and current profession. The long hours, attention to others at the occasional expense of my own needs, and the relentless drive for quality improvement and improving my own abilities were relevant in business and will remain important in the field of nursing.

Moreover, the business knowledge that was so helpful to me in my former career can also be translated into a nursing career. Nurses are more encouraged than ever to look over their work with a critical eye to cost-cutting, efficiency and waste management. All of these considerations were essential when I was involved in enterprise. My merging of the field of economics with the field of nursing will make me a better and more useful.