Happy conception day to Alice in Wonderland! On July 4, 1862, Lewis Carroll was on a river trip with friends, including the three daughters of a friend. Through the journey, Carroll told the girls the story of Alice in the Underground. This, of course, became Alice in Wonderland.
Alice is beset by curiosity. That is what prompts her to follow the White Rabbit, who is the representation of time. Or rather time slipping away.
University, or college, or classes above or even in high school, represent time. This is the time that the student has to devote to learning a new skill, or learning about themselves (as discussed in a previous dispatch), or finding a new profession. Or just exploring for exploring’s sake.
All of this takes time.
For me, I first started nursing school in 1993, after I graduated college, got hurt, and rehabbed myself back into a different nursing school in 1998. This was the time that I lost because I was injured. After graduating in 2001, I did not return to another nursing school until 2015. That doesn’t mean I had stopped learning. It just means that my learning was in a different realm. I learned how the OR and how to be an OR nurse. Fifteen years ago, long before I considered returning to school, I studied and tested for my CNOR. I passed 15 years ago today.
However, this time was not wasted even though I wasn’t actively participating in formal education.
Adult learners should never stop learning; it keeps the mind sharp and nimble.
To keep my CNOR I need to do 135 hours of continuing education over 5 years, 100 in the OR. Nurses especially have to continually be learning. To be licensed in their state requires some form of continuing education. The number of hours depends on the state.
Not everyone wants to go back to school, and go back to school, and go back to school. However, every adult needs to keep learning.
What form that takes is up to you.
Learning is never time wasted.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 