Lucy Hall

I attribute my success to my faith in God and following what I'm called to do. When I was wondering about doing nursing, I prayed and said, God, if you want me to do this, bring the money and get me in. And I got into the school, and I inherited some money that I could live on. I also had strong motivation - when I left my husband, he was being mean to me and disappointed that I left him. One time he said 'you're just a student secretary' when I was working at the kids' school. Some days, my motivation was 'I'm gonna be such a success, I'm gonna show you. I can succeed, and I can make it on my own. I don't need you.' I listened to a lot of upbeat music like Destiny's Child 'Survivor' and Khalid 'All I Do Is Win' - I would drive into the school parking lot listening to that music as my pump-up. I also worked incredibly hard. When I didn't get accepted to nursing school initially and was waitlisted, I said 'darn it, I am gonna work so hard, nobody's ever gonna say no to me again.' I studied hard, got A's, and made sure to start each semester off with an A so if life happened and I lost a few points, it wouldn't wreck me. And beyond the practical aspects, what really drove me was that it felt good to help people and get them back to their life - that satisfaction kept me going.

The best career advice I ever received came from one of my instructors who told me: 'Get your cookies where you can.' Life is hard, and if there's some joy that you find somewhere, you know, find some joy, do things you love to do. I keep finding myself repeating this advice. I try not to make cookies my actual joy - pickleball is my joy - but the message is to find the joy where you can and look for joy. Some of my instructors were monsters who brought their own psychological issues to their work, but some were delightful, and this piece of advice from one of the lovely ones has really stuck with me.

My advice for young women entering nursing is to start the semester off with an A, so if life happens and you lose a few points, it won't wreck you. In nursing school, you have to keep above an 80% average - 70 is failing, not passing like in other degrees. The tests require lots of critical thinking where you have to pick the best answer, not just a good answer. Do not try to work during a bachelor's nursing program because you're learning all the basics and you have so much at the beginning. Instead, make it a job to go collect every scholarship you can - whether it's from a civic group, the college itself, or a professional organization. Go look for the money from anywhere, don't wait for it to come looking for you. You have to do your homework to find that money. Find your people, find a study group, a support group who will call you out when you missed a detail. Work hard and study harder than you think you need to. And honestly, if you ever decide nursing is not for you, that's okay - you can pivot and do something else where you can use all the training you've had. It's hard school and hard work, but it's also satisfying because you can help people, and that feels good.

The biggest challenge in nursing right now is how sick patients have become - the regular hospital patient today with all the comorbidities like diabetes, heart problems, and hypertension is as sick as the ICU patients of the 70s and 80s. It was squishing me trying to keep up. Nursing school itself is incredibly challenging - it's the hardest bachelor's degree with the most hours, and they have a high dropout rate in the first year. You hear people say 'oh, I didn't know it was going to be like this.' Some people just don't want to do a 12-hour shift, even though that means you only work 3 days a week. It's hard work. But the opportunity is that nursing offers such flexibility, which is wonderful. And there's a huge opportunity in mental health right now - our country is not getting more sane, it's not getting more emotionally healthy, it's getting less emotionally healthy, and we have to work on that. People who've been marginalized, LGBTQ individuals, anybody who can get bullied is going to have an emotional, psychological fallout. I think it's my job to make this world a better place and help the people who need it, and bring healing where I can in partnership with my patients. That's why I'm going back to school to be a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

The values most important to me are faith in God and doing what I'm called to do. I am called to serve - that's my purpose. When I work with my patients, I'm not going to tell them what to do or boss them around or push, because that doesn't do anything. But I do expect them to work and have skin in the game. If you've got a cardiac problem, eat some oatmeal for breakfast to clean out your cholesterol. I expect you to start walking, and I will encourage and cajole them and give them ideas about how to get healthier on a budget. I value encouraging others to do what they're called to do and follow what they're meant to follow. I also value responsibility and determination - when my ex-husband was being mean to me and said things like 'you're just a student secretary,' my motivation became 'I'm gonna succeed, and I'm gonna show you. I can succeed, and I can make it on my own. I don't need you.' And ultimately, my purpose is to make this world a better place for everyone who's living in it, and help the people who need it, and bring healing where I can in partnership with my patients.