People look at where I am now — DNP, CRNA, working toward my psychiatric mental health NP — and they see the result. They don't see the 16-hour double shifts on Saturdays and Sundays while going to school during the week. They don't see the 5am study sessions or the sacrifices that nobody applauded.
I want to show you what it actually looked like.
The Weekends Nobody Saw
When I was younger, many of my friends were out partying on weekends. I was working double shifts — 16 hours on Saturday, 16 hours on Sunday — and then going to school Monday through Friday.
That wasn't sacrifice for the sake of suffering. That was strategy. I was investing every hour into a future I could see in my mind but couldn't yet touch with my hands.
I worked as a CNA at one of the worst nursing homes in Dallas. The work was hard, the conditions were difficult, and I was always the youngest person on the floor. But I was focused on my destination, never my starting point. I helped the elderly and psychiatric patients with humility and a genuine desire to serve.
That job shaped how I deliver care as a provider now.
The Career Path Nobody Tells You About
My path wasn't a straight line. It was a series of strategic moves, each one building on the last:
- CNA at a skilled nursing and psychiatric facility — where I learned service
- Medication Aide — certified myself to expand my skills
- Medication Technician — still at skilled nursing, still building
- Patient Care Technician at a Level 1 Trauma Hospital — I took a pay cut for this position because I knew it would open doors to critical care
- Registered Nurse in Critical Care — straight out of nursing school into the ICU
- Travel Nurse during COVID — worked the front lines, saved lives, cried with families
- CRNA Student — the hardest academic journey of my life
- DNP, CRNA — graduated May 2025
- Psychiatric Mental Health NP Student — graduating May 2026
Every transition required a decision. Some required a pay cut. All required discipline.
COVID Changed Me
During the pandemic, I continued to work on the front lines. I saved lives. I cried with families. I survived an experience that changed me forever.
That period reshaped my understanding of resilience, responsibility, and purpose. It wasn't just about career advancement anymore — it was about showing up for people in the hardest moments of their lives.
The discipline I'd built over years of double shifts and early mornings became the thing that carried me through.
Breaking Into Anesthesia
Getting into CRNA school wasn't handed to me. I didn't have the shadow opportunities that many of my peers had. I had to fight my way through.
During COVID, while working as a travel nurse in California, I found the anesthesia office and personally pleaded with the chief CRNA for shadow opportunities. She fought for me to get them. I still reach out to her to this day.
That taught me something I carry everywhere: nobody is going to open the door for you. But if you knock long enough, and you knock with respect and preparation, someone will hear you.
What Discipline Actually Looks Like
Discipline isn't motivation. Motivation fades after the first hard week. Discipline is:
- Waking up at 5am when your body says no
- Working a double shift when your friends are at brunch
- Taking a pay cut because you know the long game matters more
- Studying at the library instead of playing with your baby because the degree is almost done
- Showing up to clinicals the day after you almost died
Consistency separates the dreamers from the doers. Every single time. Not talent. Not connections. Not luck. Consistency.
My Advice
Trust your capacity. Don't shrink yourself to fit into spaces. You are capable of more than you think.
There will be seasons that test you — where you feel stretched between everything. But consistency and belief in yourself matter more than perfection.
Give yourself grace. But don't lower your standards.
