October 2010
This has been a month of decisions. I am in my last semester of nursing school. I have the professor from hell for my clinical rotation. She is driving my insane and making me feel completely inept. Her efforts are not solely concentrated on me. My entire clinical group is down in the dumps and my whole class is frustrated and stressed to the breaking point. Earning my PhD was not this difficult. But I am sucking it all up and getting through. The light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. I just hope it is not the headlamp of an oncoming train.
The backlash of all of this is my decision to bow out of Ice Castle. I am presently teaching group skating classes two days per week. I still have no private students and no prospects. I had to miss coaching one night because I attended a test review session. I hate to break up my weekend to drive to the rink in the middle of the day to teach a couple of classes. I need free days for uninterrupted study, and I have not had any. Presently, I cannot justify the small amount of coaching I do. It is not worth my time. I do not have enough hours of work to make the sacrifice. I like teaching skating and have enjoyed the diversion. It gave me a break from nursing and an opportunity to concentrate on something else for a while. I still enjoy teaching, but I have come to a point where I have to evaluate the benefits versus the costs. While I earn a good hourly rate, I do not work enough to justify the drive to the rink and the chunk it takes out of my day. My priority is finishing my training with the highest level of success I can manage and beginning a new career that will allow me to earn a stable living. I cannot achieve this in skating.
I told my supervisor at the rink that I will not be able to teach for the winter set of classes. I have not resigned, but asked to be kept on the sub list. When I graduate in December, I will look for a job as a nursing assistant until I am licensed and find a full time nursing job. While the hourly pay for an assistant is far lower than that of a skating instructor, I need the hours to earn an acceptable living as well as the experience in health care. I expect to the licensed by March, if not earlier.
Being in limbo has been difficult for me, but now it is especially challenging because I am earning so little money at the rink. When I had a few students, I brought home a decent part time salary. That is not happening this season. I have to make decisions. Coaching has to go. I never intended to continue coaching once I become a practicing nurse; however, I did plan to continue until that time. That is no longer my best option. I made this decision with mixed feelings, but I believe it is the right decision under the circumstances. I will say good-bye to coaching earlier than expected.
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