10 years from now, I hope to be working in a hospital in either Boston or Tampa. I hope to be working in the neonatal intensive care unit where I provide care for newborns. Personally, I hope to be married with children living either in Boston or Tampa. Academically, I hope to have earned my bachelor’s and master’s and possibly a doctorate in nursing. Overall, I hope that I am healthy and happy since that’s most important to me.

In college, I hope to strengthen the relationships I’ve already built and create new ones. While navigating The University of Tampa’s rigorous nursing program having peers that I can lean on and professors I can go to for advice is extremely beneficial. Not only in nursing, but also life in general, it’s important to have a strong support system that you can rely on.

I find that my biggest motivator to continue working towards my goals comes from within. I’ve always been the type of person that pushes myself to do better. When I make a plan, I stick to it and when I achieve my goal, I make another one. For me, having this internal sense of discipline allows me to persevere through difficult situations to ultimately accomplish my goals.

My biggest piece of advice for anyone who has lost a loved one to substance abuse is to take all that pain, sadness, and hurt and turn it into drive. Losing a loved one is never easy and personally, I found that putting my energy into accomplishing my goals is what helped me the most. Just remember that grief isn’t linear, it will be different for everyone and that’s perfectly okay.