The First Time You Feel Like You Messed Up: A Note to New Nurses
A nurse feeling as if she has messed up.
Written from the future you—the one who made it through.
The Shift That Shook You
Hey there,
I know today hit hard.
The charting didn’t get done on time.
You forgot a med.
You didn’t catch that early sign.
Or maybe… it was just a look from someone that made you feel like you weren’t enough.
And now? You’re sitting with that feeling every new nurse faces eventually: Did I mess up?
That quiet panic of wondering if this was the kind of nursing mistake that sticks with you.
The kind that makes you question if you’re cut out for this work.
Let me tell you something I wish someone had told me when I was standing where you are:
Let’s dive in!
Why the Charting Didn’t Get Done
I know the part you’re stuck on.
The part where the patient asked you to stay.
The part where your body froze for a second—because the charting was piling up, and the shift was almost over.
But she looked at you and said, “Will you stay with me?”
And you did.
You sat with her.
You were there in the moment she needed most.
Now, you’re asking:
“Should I have let a tech stay?”
“Why did she ask me?”
“Did I do the wrong thing for the right reason?”
Let me say this clearly:
She asked you.
And you stayed.
That’s not failure.
That’s presence.
That’s nursing.
Years from now, you won’t remember the late charting.
You’ll remember her hand in yours.
And how you chose to be human—even in a system that measures you by time stamps.
An new nurse worried about the face her preceptor made
The Look She Gave You
You keep replaying that too, don’t you?
The look your preceptor gave when she saw the documentation wasn’t finished.
She didn’t yell. She didn’t say much.
But her silence said it all.
And now your brain is whispering:
“All her nurses get things done on time.”
“You messed up her rhythm.”
“You’re on her list now.”
Here’s what I want to offer you:
That look? It came from her experience.
From her pressure.
From a system that rewards speed and punishes pause.
But here’s what you know that she didn’t in that moment:
You were sitting with a dying patient.
You were doing the work before the chart.
You weren’t lazy. You weren’t slacking. You were human.
And one look—one moment of someone else’s frustration—doesn’t define your worth as a nurse.
A nurse feeling overwhelmed
🧠 What to Do When You Make a Mistake as a New Nurse
One moment will not define you.
Not this one.
Not the next.
Not the ones that come after that, either.
You will learn from this.
You will grow sharper, steadier, more confident.
And no, it won’t happen all at once.
It happens moment by moment, mistake by mistake, shift by shift.
Whether it was a charting mistake, a missed cue, or a moment that made you question your instincts—every new nurse goes through this.
You’re not failing—you’re becoming.
This is the middle part.
The part where you feel the gap between what you know and what you need to know.
That’s not incompetence.
That’s growth.
✏️ Try this activity: "The 3-Minute Reframe"
You’re allowed to be human.
You will mess up. You will miss things.
But here’s what will always matter more than perfection:
How you show up. How you own it. How you recover.
And you will recover.
Ask for help.
Take a breath.
Drink some water.
Tell someone who won’t make you feel smaller.
💛 You Are Not Alone
Every nurse you admire has had a moment like this.
(Yes, even the one who seems like they’ve got it all together.)
They made it through. You will too.
You're doing better than you think.
Keep going.
With love,
Future You 🩺✨
You CAN do this!
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