Help me choose the right career path. Please share your experiences

[Detgo235]

I would like to know what I am setting myself up for career wise. I am due to start studying in September as a mature student for Midwifery. I don’t know why I’m having a change of heart but I suddenly feel like this could be a huge mistake. All I hear about is how bad the placements are and how students and qualified staff go home crying so much. Then comes the time when you are qualified and are left in an understaffed environment with no support. Is working for the NHS a mistake and for anyone who does work in a care field, do you wish you chose a different path, if so which one? The reason I ask is because I suffer with anxiety and I don’t cope with large amounts of pressure, so once in a while everything gets on top of me and I feel like having a breakdown. I worry that I haven’t even started and god knows what I am letting myself in for. I do work in the NHS currently as support staff and I am 30 years old, no children yet and I am married if that is relevant.

Thank you

First off, stop stressing (especially about other people's experience). Secondly there's no career/job without it's fair share of stress et all. It's the attitude you take into the job that determines the fulfilment you get out of it. Don't let others project their fear on to you, consequently causing you to loose focus. Give it a go and experience if for yourself. I work in the NHS and I come away feeling I've helped someone even on a very stressful day!!

People love to tell horror stories!

My DH is a clinician in the NHS. He has good days, bad days and boring days. He has days where he phoned me from work to tell me what a lovely kid he had seen in clinic, and he has days where he says patients are rude and ungrateful. He manages a team of clinicians and deals with their stresses as well as champions them and celebrates their successes.

It's a job - highs and lows are part of everyday life for everyone and we learn from both.