
Feeding Our Young
Encouragement for today's student nurse... and life lessons for the rest of us!
Have you ever heard the phrase “nurses eat their young?” Feeding Our Young® is more than a podcast – it’s a movement. It’s a desire to see new nurses of all ages be supported and uplifted by their peers.
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Feeding Our Young
2 - Morgan Johnson: Perfectionist No More
Join Honored Guest Morgan Johnson as she discusses who and what inspired her to enter the nursing field, battling perfectionism, her traveling adventures past and future, how she has selected her chosen specialty, how she overcame challenges to her identity, how she multitasks schooling with hobbies, her three chosen words to describe nursing school, and her one piece of advice for fellow nursing students!
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Good morning and welcome to the inaugural very first, guest episode of Feeding Our Young. With me today is the impeccable Morgan Johnson. Morgan, how the heck are you? good! How are you this morning? You know, I'm feeling great. I love getting to sit here and chat with you and introduce you to our tiny but growing audience. I don't know. It's gotta be tiny to start with, right? right. It's only going back, gonna get bigger. I love your optimism. It'll be you and like your loved ones that you point in the direction like listen to my podcast. So Morgan's family and friends, you're our first real listeners. Thank you so much for supporting us. We hope you stick in past Morgan. So Morgan, tell us a little bit about yourself. What university are you going to? When do you graduate? Where are you from? I'm from Everett, Washington, and I go to school over in Spokane at Gonzaga University, and I'll be graduating May 2025, so just a little less than a year. my gosh, that light at the end of the tunnel, even if incrementally is getting brighter, right? I love it. I love it. So a lady of both sides of the state, Spokane is in Washington on the eastern side of the state and Everett, of course, being on the west side. What do you like most about Everett, where you're from? I grew up around family, so I love Everett that we're all, my whole family is about 15 minutes away from each other. So that's definitely a big pro to me. And then geographically, I love that you're driving distance from so many different landscapes and scenery. For example, the mountains are close, the ocean's obviously like right in our backyard, which is so nice. And then you can go to the rainforest, the national parks. There's just so many different things that this side of the state has to offer. Absolutely, I think that can be said about Washington in general. I'm a Washington boy through and through also have come from both sides of the state. So I suppose this episode is turning into a Washington state advertisement, please come to Washington state. All right, moving along. And I a little blurb that I need to throw out there that I forgot to mention, anyone listening, please bear with us. This is literally the first day of recording and also the first time. We've got an honored guest with us and the two of us are working this out together. So might be a few hiccups and guess what? That's really the theme of this podcast anyway, right? Where we don't expect perfection, right Morgan? Yeah. Yeah, if it's something you don't learn, nursing school really hammers that home, that's for sure. Hey, speaking of nursing school, what three words would you use to describe nursing school? We describe nursing school as honorable, reflective, and onerous. honoris. you're bringing the $5 words today. I love that. What does honoris mean? Honours just means demanding. It requires a lot of effort and you will definitely learn that through nursing school. 100 % 100 % we'll circle back to those words here at the end of the podcast. I want to I want to dig into why you chose those words. But first, why did you want to become a nurse? I've been fascinated with science for as long as I can remember. And my dad always says, you're a sponge. And I just soak up all the new information. then the more that I grew to learn, the more I learned about myself, I just really a liking to caring for my family members and like through their bouts of troubles and then. just other people, like I feel like I've always been like, my gosh, I can help you. And whether it's healthcare related or just everyday life, I just have a big heart, I think. And I'm just a big go getter for helping others. So that's kind of why I became a nurse. There was a quote I once heard and it writes, may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel. And I just love that because that's what nursing is. You just. makes such a big impact on people and I feel like that's such a good part of life and it makes you feel good. Oddly enough, it sounds like you are perfect for the field of nursing. That's great news, right? There you go. Yeah, you've just been validated. Congratulations. You've not wasted years of your life up to this point. my gosh. So did you get any inspiration from other members in your family? Do you have anybody else that's in healthcare? don't actually. I had great grandma, she was a nurse probably 50 years ago. And other than that, there's no healthcare workers. No one in my family went to college and graduated college. I have an older cousin that graduated college a few years ago. But other than that, I'm the first female to graduate college. So that's exciting. No other healthcare workers in like my generation. So yeah. That is going to be amazing. That's going to be the biggest family party. I'm already envisioning that. That is outstanding. I'm also inviting myself to it. So Morgan's family, if you're listening, yeah, please, please just throw me an invite. I'd love to see how big the celebration gets. that's why you wanted to become a nurse. No health care workers in your family. But is there anyone that inspired you to become a nurse? Yes, there were The one person I distinctly remember and I don't even remember her name, but I went to my pediatrician's office. It was just a regular annual checkup and know how like the nurses always come in and they do your vitals or whatever, your growth, weight. Yeah, literally. I'm five years old at this time. And the nurse came in and she was blonde wearing blue scrubs. And I told her, I said, I want to be just like you when I grow up. I had no idea what that would entail, like nursing school and getting through all the other high school requirements. You know, like, I just, my gosh, I want to be like you. I just, you're so pretty, blah, blah. And then in high school, I had a teacher and she, Santucci, she was my biology and anatomy teacher and I just loved her. And she said, you know, I think you'd be such a great nurse. you excel in science, so I think that you should pursue that. And then I was like, my gosh, maybe I should, you know, like that just kind of solidified my care, my, yeah, my desire to care for others and my desire to be like that nurse that I met when I was five years old. That is outstanding. And I love you already just circled back right to that, Mary Angelo quote. You don't want to be that, that whole, they may forget your name. You know, you, you don't remember that. I mean, you were five, let's go there, but you know, also like you don't remember her name, but this woman had an impact on you from that many years ago, you know, 15 years ago and here I am. I just love it. And now, and I'm going to flip this on the on its head for a second, because you know, even if you don't, and obviously, you're not consciously thinking it anyway, she performed, but even now as a nursing student, and when you become a nurse, you're going to be that person for somebody else. Like, isn't that amazing? Like, somebody's gonna look at you and be like, my gosh, I want that quality in her or I want to become a nurse or whatever. So those are the pieces you got to hold on to. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. it worth it. makes the pain worth it, the suffering, all the things, yeah? Speaking of, well, let's get into some nursing school stuff here. You know, you talked about, what do you find most challenging about nursing school? that's a good question. I feel like going from high school to nursing school, well, I guess even just like and sophomore year for us, there was like requirements for grades, but I mean, obviously you have to pass your classes. But once you get into the nursing school at Gonzaga, at least, think it's a 75, it's like a C or above, which is hard. Like, it sounds like, yeah, that's doable, but nursing school classes are so much harder than just your normal communications class, you know? And I'm not dissing on communication majors by any means, because I only took Communications 101. But it was obviously, nursing school is just much harder than those little basic classes like that, they're foundational classes. So yeah, I'd say that moving from that mindset of, okay, I can easily get an A to, my gosh, I have to work really hard to get even a B. That's really hard. And as a perfectionist, like I said, nursing school, it did me, it changed my mind on, okay, I'm not a perfectionist like I was in high school in the early years of my college career. It's just crazy how nursing school changes you. Yeah, your standards change and I don't mean like lowering them, but I suppose if you start out as a perfectionist, you know, it takes one to know one, you're speaking to one as we, you know what I mean? Like, and you, but you do, if that's your standard is the highest standard you could possibly have, then yeah, you got to adjust it, right? Yes, and how hard is that? Like it's all you've known for your life and then bam, like B's and C's are gonna be okay. You know, C's get degrees. don't know about you. Yeah, C's get degrees. And I don't know about you. I've never had, I don't think you've had a patient ask you yet. I've never had a patient in my practice ask me, hey, what was your GPA, by the way? You know what I mean? Like that? Yeah. No, they don't care. Yeah. They'll know if you care. They'll know if you're competent and that's the key thing. So I love it. you can always, which I love about nursing, you can always go and ask up here or somebody or there's Google, you know, if you don't know what a med is, there's Micrometics. Like there's tons of different platforms that you can look up and so you education right on the job, which I like. Absolutely, I have a motto, fake it till you make it, but we really don't want nurses faking it till they make it. Yeah, I legit, I'm like, a patient will ask me a question and I say, I don't know, let's find out together. Like you said, I don't know if it's gonna be a peer or some sort of research we're doing, we're gonna find that answer this way or the others. I love it. so you're gonna make it through these challenges. You know, you're going through all the years and by the way any communication majors out there that happen to stumble on this podcast Obviously Morgan doesn't want to offend you. She just said that and by all means I don't know why you're still here, but I'm glad you are Maybe you're trying to learn how not to communicate by hearing me I don't know. Okay moving along so you make it through the challenges of nursing school and you're gonna graduate It's gonna be an amazing celebration. I can't wait to see that myself. What are your plans after graduation? To be honest, I'm really not sure yet. I obviously, I know, right? Crazy. I plan to move back home and I have to take the NCLEX, obviously. And then I think I might travel for a little bit. I'm in like the realization stage of like, this is my last summer if I don't want to make next summer, like my big go -getter summer. And that's just sad. Like, I just don't like that thought. So I'm thinking maybe I can make like a half summer happen next summer. and maybe travel a little bit. My cousin and I, we just did a national park road trip and it was so fun. It got my little travel bug like going in me. So I think we're gonna make it a tradition and like work on a trip to go on next year together, maybe a year up, maybe more national parks, do something. So maybe just some downtime and travel before like real world starts and I'm in the career forever. I think that's brilliant. There's an old saying, travel before you have kids, travel before anything. Definitely travel before. If you have the opportunity to do that before you start your career, my goodness, it's like the greatest reward you can possibly give yourself, right? yeah. What like a great way to celebrate nursing school? You know, I'm being done with school. 100 % and just that the feeling you can anticipate the feeling of just that release, right? Of like not having another hoop to jump through when you get back. I mean, other than, you know, learning a brand new career and job, no pressure, it's fine. But other than that, yes, yes, yes. have you already traveled outside the country? I mean, if so, where what any favorite places you've got? Yeah, I feel like growing up we went to like Mexico and Canada and then obviously like the interstates quite often. We did one big family trip to Africa which was so much fun. That's like the trip of a lifetime. It was great. But more than just Africa, I grew up going every summer we'd go to the central BC coast on our family's boat and it was dad and I that would go up. We'd like do the rough travel part of it We'd fish and he'd teach me all the gear stuff and different parts of the boat. We'd just walk the docks and it was just so much fun and the simplicity of that lifestyle to just, you're in the middle of nowhere, you have no reception. It's just amazing. I've grown to appreciate it the older I get. I think that's been my favorite destination. It's something I look forward to every year and growing up, I think that was the trip that, my gosh, we have to go on this trip because... It was just so beautiful and great up there and fish and fill the freezer. It was awesome. That's amazing. I'm kind of living vicariously through you. People can't see the video here because we're not a video podcast, maybe someday. But I've been told I have a face for radio anyway. So we're just going to leave that where that's. But with that being said, you're talking about Africa and I'm like, my I'm just my mouth is like dropping. I'm like, that just sounds amazing. Wow. But yeah, not a lot of people can say they've been there. That's for sure. can make that a fun fact at parties. That's a good one. I always like, I feel like fun facts at the beginning of the semesters, you're like, like my middle name is blank. You know? I don't have a fun fact. Yeah. let's circle back around. So you're going to do the vacationing, you're going to do the summer of amazing release and fun. And then what areas of nursing do you hope to practice in after that? Do you know yet? I kind of have a good idea. I think that I'd like to start my bedside nursing career in MedSurg. I love the pace of it and the fact that you get to use so many skills every day, skills that you've learned, but skills that other nurses are teaching you on the job. Like I said, you're always learning as a nurse. I just really like that. You see so many different diagnoses and just different walks of life, I should say. And I think that's really rewarding to be able to be a part of that. with other people. Well, and that's amazing because that's, you know what I mean? Not everybody knows what they want to do. There's a lot of students who get through nursing school and you're like, I don't know. Yeah, exactly. So the idea that you have an idea already, like, does that help you? Do you prepare any differently? Do you just, is it kind of like, I'm going to have that in the back of my mind until something beats it? Like, what's your mindset with that? I think I, well, to start, I went into nursing thinking I would do something pediatric related, maybe pediatric oncology, labor and delivery, something more up your alley per se. And then as I started MedSurg, I just fell in love with it. So this is my little like spiel that you don't have to become the nurse that you wanted to become because through clinical and through rotations, you're gonna see so many different opportunities that you're like, my gosh, this is the type of nurse I want to become. And for me, I feel like it was like, this is like, I feel like my calling because I just excelled in that. And I loved seeing the people and being able to help them as much as I did there. But to prepare, I'd say like, once you kind of figure out what of nursing you want to work on, let's say, during class, like really hunker down. That's how I'm kind of preparing because, I mean, of course the NCLEX is gonna have questions for every single type of class that you've learned. But if you really like hunker down on one topic, I think you're gonna succeed, you know, in life and on tests too. So, yeah. glad you encourage our listeners to do that. Circling back around to my very first clinical instructor and my very first day getting prepped for clinical, I'll never forget her name was Susan Strandberg. you're out there, Susan, and you end up listening to this, thank you for everything you did for us. This was a number of years ago. But I'll never forget that very first day in class, she goes, you nursing students as nurses will become intimately acquainted with the F word. And of course, we're all like, what, what, what are we, what? And she says, you know, flexibility. Okay, but guess what? Here I am, you know, 19 years later and it's stuck in my brain, but that's what you're speaking to, right? Like, don't be so rigid that. no, I knew I wanted to do this. You wanted to go into Peds. You're like, well, I probably should just stick with that because that's what I wanted to do. But but you lose the passion, right? Like you find what you're passionate about. And that makes all the difference. I'll take less pay to do something I'm passionate about. Yeah, I would totally agree. I heard this quote one time, it was probably like five years ago, but it's just stuck with me, that if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. And I think of that often, like if I'm gonna work in Peds and I'm not gonna love what I do, then I'm gonna go to work every day. But if I work in MedSurg and I love what I do, then I'm just serving people every day, which I like that mindset. and you just happen to get paid to do the serving thing. Yeah, it's, it's, it's the secondary thing, right? Like it's, we go to work. I tell people if they, if I didn't have mouths to feed, I would still do what I do. I'd probably do it less, but, but I'd still do what I do. And because it's just that drive to care for others and your patients are going to be better for it. That's what's the amazing part. I love it. All right. Enough talking about nursing and workshopping and all the things. Let's get to know a little bit more about Morgan, what makes Morgan tick. All right. So let's go let's go let's go dark and scary. Shall we let's let's just dive in there is it would you want to share any challenges you've had in your life? maybe particularly how you've overcome them. Okay, yeah. played volleyball for about five or six years growing up. And it was on select teams and recreational teams like Boys and Girls Club, those types of things. And it was really in my life. Like I did it every day after school, every weekend, there were some holidays like Easter's and things like that that we would be traveling on. It like consumed me, you know, and it was so fun. I made so many great friends out of it. But when I was about 13, ironically, we traveled to Spokane and we were in the convention center in a big tournament. And during warmups, I took a ball to the left temple of my head. Yeah, and I knew immediately right then, I just don't feel right. And I continued warmups and I told my coach, I'm like, I really need to go see the medic team. I think I have a concussion. And she's like, no, I don't think so. I'm like, no, seriously, like, I'm not seeing straight, like, please. So I'm like, couldn't tell you. Yeah. So I went to go see the medics and obviously I had a concussion and that was a big setback because it's like, my gosh, I'm out for X amount of weeks and that sucks. Like, this is something, like I said, this is all I do after school. So that was a big change. And then kind of - just took a long time to heal from for whatever reason. And then in July of that year, so that was March, and in July, I got carbon monoxide poisoning. And as my doctors it, that's gonna set back my concussion healing time. I'm like, no, great, you know. All I wanna do is play volleyball. So yeah, exactly. So that was a hard adjustment. So that I'm healing from all of that. And then September of that same year, I get another concussion to like the back of my head, like almost like my neck, occipital lobe type area. It was terrible. And that was like, yeah, yeah, exactly. And yes. And that was basically start to the end of my volleyball career those... headaches that came from the concussions then turned into migraines and then the migraines somehow were diagnosed with abdominal migraines and more GI issues. So that was a big like reality change, I guess, because volleyball, volleyball, volleyball, and then all of a sudden it's like no volleyball. And I was to the point that my migraines were so bad that I would take half days of school for my freshman year. So I would go in the morning and then I would leave after a couple hours because I just couldn't do it in the screens and stuff like that. So that was a really big adjustment, but I'd say that I overcame it by just advocating for myself. Like the doctors that I went to go see, it was probably a weekly basis for quite a few months and it was down in Seattle. So it was a commute. And I just remember my parents, like it was rough on them, you know, having to commute and take time off work and all of that. And the doctors would give me no answers. They were like, I recommend blank or let's get you scheduled for blank. And that's four months out and I just didn't want to wait. So I would say advocate for yourself and not even like in a medical aspect, you can advocate for yourself in school. And I think that's like, I've learned to love to ask questions. And if it drives people crazy, like I, I don't know. It's just like, that's how I learn. And I love to be inquisitive and ask questions like that. So. That's my advice is advocate for yourself. I love that you brought that back around to that. I guess we can't get away from the whole purpose of this podcast, which is, you know, encouragement in nursing school and nursing. But if there's one thing that I get feedback on students in my vast 24 months of instructing, feedback I get most often on like the weekly turn -ins and that sort of thing is that, man, I wish I would have asked for this. I wish I would have stood up for myself more. I wish I would have grabbed that opportunity. And we're all going to have those regrets. But the sooner you recognize that and go, hey, you know what? I need to stop sitting in the corner. I tell my students, Morgan can attest, yeah? I tell you not to be like me. Don't be nursing student Eric. Nursing student Eric, hid in the corner. If there was an opportunity to do a skill, I let some other eager beaver go get it. And I was like, I'm OK. I'll get the next one. Thank you. And it's but it's it's that one time in your life where you as a nurse, you are learning to do your skills, your everything under the license of another nurse with your instructor, hopefully any of those things. You've got safety net on safety net. And it's better to learn that way than to wait and then like, OK, I got to learn on my first day on the job and it's just me. at least you have that support. So thank you for bringing that around to that there, Morgan. Yeah, absolutely. Be eager. Be eager. Advocate. Just go get them. At risk of opening myself, you know, Deadpool and Wolverine's coming out this summer. This is also going to date this episode. But I tell my kids on my tombstone, I'll read, here lies a good Christian man who loved Deadpool. And that's going to tell everyone what they need to know about me. I'm just this conglomerate of things. But you know, one of Deadpool's catchphrases is maximum effort. And I tell my students day one, right, Morgan? Maximum effort. And that's just it. Just maximize those opportunities that come your way. I love it. I love it. I love it. But enough about me enough about nursing school, bringing it back to you. Any other hobbies, interests you enjoy when you know, every single waking moment isn't consumed by your nursing school demands. Yeah, I love to bake, hike, fish, travel. I love going on walks. Really anything outdoors is my jam. I just love to spend time outdoors. That's awesome. You would get along with my wife. Yeah, very much so. There's a saying opposites attract and it's true. Is your boyfriend, does he, like, does he, does he didn't introduce you to that stuff because you've been doing it for a while, but is that something he enjoys or you guys, you know, like, what does that look like? Yeah, he loves to be outdoors. He loves to fish. His family growing up would always go to the Oregon Dunes and go ATVing on the quads and things like that. And that was so much fun just to see him. Obviously we've known each other for like four years, so I didn't grow up doing that with him. But once I came around to it and liked the idea of maybe going one day. I eventually went and it's just been so fun. We've gone every summer since and it's just been like, I get to see a new side and see something that he loves and it's just so fun. And spend time outdoors, so the best of both worlds. I think they call that a win -win -win situation, right? Yeah, I love it. Well, Morgan, is there anything you want to add before we get into kind of the final questions that I ask everybody? I don't think so. Maybe something about, a side note of hobbies, something that nursing school taught me is that you have to multitask. And one of my favorite ways to multitask is on the weekends, I'll always go on a walk and I'll make it a long walk, like if that's what it needs to be, just to like step away from my computer. I don't have class or clinical commitments, which is nice to just have a couple days break, aside from studying, of course. But. I would always recommend going on a walk and calling your loved ones. My grandma, every Sunday I'll call her and she's like, so are you on your walk? I'm like, yes, I am grandma. She just knows that's my schedule because I'm walking and getting exercise, taking a break from school, but then I'm calling her, I'm calling my other grandma, just making my rounds. So yeah, definitely find ways to multitask in nursing school and you'll do just great. Yes. being flexible. Man, we're just learning it. We're learning it all today. That's it. I'm going to let the other guests know. We don't need you. I love you. We don't need you. Morgan covered everything. All right. my gosh. So going back to those three words you chose, honorable? Honorable. I went into nursing school knowing that it's gonna be hard and strenuous and there's gonna be a lot of blood, sweat and tears put into this. But what I didn't know is the impact that not only I would make on my patients and those people that surround me, whether it be in school or in the hospitals, but that they would also make such a big impact on me. And I think that's just such a special part of life. Like you're mutually making. an impact on each other for better or for worse, you know, like you're gonna learn a lot in nursing school. And I think that's really special. one thing that people say that I'm confused about is they're like, you're just a nurse, but it's like, I don't feel like I'm just in quotation marks, a nurse, like I'm somebody that's gonna be there, like at your highest highs and lowest lows. For example, I could watch you give birth to a new baby and that's like, Welcoming life into this world is so special but then I'm also gonna be able to be there and hold your hand if something were to go awry and a loved one passes or Maybe help you understand like a new that you've been diagnosed with or maybe what's like help them understand what's going on in their body like the pathophysiology of it and I think that's special just Like you're just that comforting face for so many people I think that's really special. So that I honorable indeed, right? Like it's, and you do, you do hear, you know, and, and we'll even say it, you know, I'm just a nurse. I'm, you know what I mean? Like I, and it's, you know, I, I tell our listeners, self -depreciation goes a long way, but there's that just a nurse really is a misnomer. you also said, onerous, onerous I, I don't even have a hard time pronouncing it onerous Why that? This one, like I said, nursing school is just so demanding and there's gonna be a lot of times that you're gonna have to sacrifice like fun night out with friends or going to the movies or whatever it might be. It's like, I know it's just so sad, but I remember I had this one friend and it was this past semester actually and she's not in her nursing major, but she had reached out to me. She's like, hey, do you wanna go to such and such? such event and I'm like, I'm sorry I can't. And then a few weeks later, she's like, hey, do you want to go to this? And I think it was on a Monday night. And I'm like, I'm so sorry I have a test tomorrow. Like every single time that she'd reach out to hang out, I'd have something that like, I can't, I have a test or a quiz. And quizzes to me are more like test questions. Like they just prepare you well for test questions, but it's like, you have to study for those quizzes if you want to do well. So. I'm like, sorry, I have a quiz, which sounds so like, it's just a quiz, but it's not just a quiz. Like, it's more than a quiz. I think our listeners feel your pain. Definitely. Right. Like, and I, I've reached out to, you know, those of you that are prospective nursing students trying to determine if this is for you, you know, yeah, we're going to scare you away, but we're going to bring you right back. Because it is, it's, it's right as short term pain for a long term gain. And here I am 17 years later going, yeah, that's, that's a long term gain, I think. I don't know. I, it's, you know what I mean? Like it just, it really, you hear it when you first get into nursing school and you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But truth of the matter is, if you don't burn out, if you don't check out, if you don't whatever, there's just so much fun to be had in this career, right? Yeah. So your final word to describe nursing school, reflective. Why? Would you care to reflect on this word choice for us for a minute? thanks, thanks. I'd say that you're gonna spend a lot of time reflecting on your classes, maybe your exams, like, what did I learn today? can I learn tomorrow? How can I better prepare for tomorrow's class? Because, like, I'll own it. You go to class and you're like, my gosh, like, I should have reviewed that material, which that might be something else we can touch on, but, like... I should have reviewed that material going to class because now I just feel so defeated and I'm confused. And I feel like when I'm confused in class, I just kind of like get my own head, like, I can't do this. This is so hard, but I can do it. I just need to like overcome that. I can't do this phrase and just get past that. So I think you'll spend time reflecting in class in that manner. But then also in clinical, I feel like, one of my patients, it was my first patient that had passed away and. in the moment, you're so like, how can I help this family and serve this family, but also respect the patient and their wishes at the end of their life. And going home, because you're so rushed there, you go home and it's such a critical time to just reflect on that. And how did I respond well to this situation today? What can I do better for next time? And ask the peers around you, like, Because I was a nursing student, I had a nurse with me. So I could have asked like, hey, how did I respond well to the situation or what would you recommend for next time? yeah, you'll spend a lot of time reflecting in nursing school. And I feel like that ties back in bringing it full circle to your discussion regarding perfectionism and being a perfectionist, because if you are a perfectionist and you do that reflective activity, that opens the door to multiple opportunities for like self-shame, beating yourself up, those things. know, it's key to be open to the process without throwing yourself under the bus. We're own worst critics, right?-hmm. Absolutely. on the negative, but also reflect on the positive. What did I do well? What, how can I, you know, yeah, we want to be better. That's the whole, that's why they call nursing and healthcare and, you know, all of it a practice because we're practicing and, know, but it's, it's, you hit the nail right on the head. You know what I mean? Just, just continue to stay open to that process for sure. Yeah, and kind of along those same lines, I had a clinical instructor, Kim McCluskey, and she was awesome. She was our med -surg instructor, and she really taught us a lot of nursing tips, but also more reflective tips. And one of my favorite activities that she did with us is Rose Thorn and Bud. And that was just a way that during our lunch break, we weren't quite halfway through the day, but it was just a really good time to sit down as a group and hear everybody's... Rose, Thorn, and Bud. And Rose was something that's going well. Thorn is something that maybe didn't go so well. And then Bud is something that you're looking forward to. And it was just a good time, 15 minutes, go around the room and hear how everybody's day is going, kind of short snippets. So I would encourage everybody to do that too. that's outstanding. That's a good motto for life. I've never heard of that before. So shout out to Kim there. Kim, we'll make sure you get royalties for anyone that uses Rose Thorn Bud Let's see. That happens to be a generic thing. All right. So Morgan, up, I greatly appreciate your time, first and foremost. Like, I cannot thank you enough. Obviously, I'm paying you in high fives and gratitude. But my heart is, I... Cool advice. We you know, we talked about this going into it I you know, I tell every honored guests like my heart is man I'd I'd pay you big time for every episode if I could but it just there's no money there You have to have money to pay money, which is really strange But I can't thank you enough and I know that our audience can't thank you enough things up. Let's assume you have ten minutes left on this earth and you have one piece of advice to give nursing students prospective nursing students What would that piece of advice be? Going morbid here. You're gonna die, Morgan. What are you gonna tell him? This is it. should I say? Kind of going back to what I said earlier, I think that if you make lecture review, you'll succeed beyond measure. Like, I think that's such a great piece of advice. by this, I mean, before class, go into it knowing and have read. Okay, I say read lightly because I know that not everybody reads and the textbooks, nursing textbooks are thick and they're a lot to read. But even if you just skim the textbook, get a good understanding and then start to study the PowerPoint. know words that you don't know because if they're on a PowerPoint and you're like, I don't know that word, but it's so small and like in small font, I'm not gonna need to know it. I assure you that they're gonna come up on tests and I'm speaking from experience, unfortunately. So know those words, just know the content so that by the time you get to class, you have like a very brief understanding of everything. but you have the confidence to go, yeah, I've heard that word, or I know where she's gonna connect these dots. Don't be blindsided because then you're gonna go in the spiral that I go in of like, this is so hard, I can't do this, I don't know it, I have so much to do and this is slow on the back burner. Make lecture review, that's my advice. Well, Morgan, thank you so much. I just love the fact that our listeners get to hear you. as we already established all 10 or 15 of them so far, I'm not sure. But thanks, Morgan's family, for tuning in. Hopefully you'll tune in to her peers and other interviewees and listen to this blonde babble on in future episodes. So, Morgan, you have an amazing day and thank you again for taking time. Thank you so much, Eric. It's been such a pleasure to be a part of your podcast. Thank you.