Submit Anyway: Start Before It Feels Safe

Amelia

You know that tab on your phone, the, the one that's been open for like, three months? The one you keep swiping past every time you go to look up a recipe or check your bank account?

Tyrone Wigfall

Oh, I know the tab. It is, it's sitting right there between a recipe for chili and an unpaid parking ticket. And look, don't get me started on chili recipes. I used to actually enter chili cook offs back in the day! Never quite pulled off first place, but hey, I was consistently top three!

Amelia

Top three? Well look at you! You know, with credentials like that, you might just have to cook up a batch and bring it over to my place sometime, Mr. Executive Director. See if that chili really lives up to the hype!

Tyrone Wigfall

Oh, careful what you ask for, Amelia. You bring the appetite and I will bring the award winning chili, no problem at all. But seriously though, that tab is sitting there living rent free in your browser while you wait for some mythical Tuesday where all your bills are paid and you wake up feeling like Superhero of the Year.

Amelia

Exactly! See, that right there, that's what people get wrong. They think the people who actually click submit have it all figured out. They think, oh, she must have saved up five grand, or he must have a full time nanny. But no, they're just as overwhelmed, they just, they just decided that the chaos of staying still was worse than the chaos of moving forward.

Tyrone Wigfall

Absolutely. And I, I mean, I had to learn that the hard way myself. Look, after I came out of that coma, when my body was completely broken down and I got pushed off the clinical floor, if I had waited until I felt one hundred percent physically good or, or emotionally ready to go build something new? Man, I would still be sitting in that hospital bed staring at the ceiling tiles. I was, I was terrified. My joints were burning, my blood was giving out, but waiting for perfect conditions is just a fancy way of giving up without calling it giving up.

Amelia

Mmm. A polite surrender.

Tyrone Wigfall

That's exactly what it is. A polite surrender. You tell yourself, oh, I'm just being responsible, I'm waiting for the right timing. No, you're not. You're just comfortable in the suffering you already know.

Amelia

Okay, but let's talk about what happens physically in your body when you actually go to make that move. Because somebody is sitting there right now, their thumb is hovering over the submit button on the application, or they're about to dial the admissions line, and their heart starts doing that, that rapid thump thump thump in their chest.

Tyrone Wigfall

The chest flutter.

Amelia

Yes! And the minute that happens, their brain goes, see? Danger! Warning sign! Abort mission! You can't do this! And we treat that panic like it's a stop sign from the universe, when really it's just adrenaline.

Tyrone Wigfall

It's evidence! It's not a stop sign, it's evidence that whatever you are about to do actually matters to you. Your body doesn't know the difference between being chased by a bear and taking a step toward changing your life. It just knows, hey, this is big!

Amelia

Right! And we have this fake idea that veteran nurses or seasoned CNAs or instructors never felt that. Like they just walked into clinicals on day one with ice in their veins.

Tyrone Wigfall

Are you kidding me? Every single veteran nurse you meet, every instructor walking the halls at ISH, every single one of them remembers having trembling hands the first time they tried to take a blood pressure or put on gloves in front of a patient. I, I remember my own hands shaking so bad I could barely hold the blood pressure cuff. You think you're the only one terrified, but the truth is, everybody who ever made something of themselves was scared out of their mind on day one.

Amelia

And let us talk about what happens when you actually cross that threshold and walk into class for the first time. Because that imposter syndrome does not magically disappear when you get your acceptance letter or buy your scrubs. You walk into that lab and suddenly everyone else looks like they have it all together.

Tyrone Wigfall

Oh man, week one at ISH! I see it in their eyes every single term. Students walk in, sitting near the back, arms crossed, stiff as a board. They are looking around thinking, that person over there worked in a doctor office, or that person knows all the medical words already, I do not belong here. But let me tell you a secret about our student community. Nobody starts out knowing what they are doing.

Amelia

Right! They think everyone else was born knowing how to do a manual blood pressure or memorize medical terminology. But nobody is! You are all in that room learning from scratch together.

Tyrone Wigfall

That is why at ISH we build our classrooms around community, not competition. I tell our students on day one, look to your left and look to your right. That person sitting next to you is not your rival, that is your study partner, that is your future coworker on the hospital floor, that is the person who is going to practice taking vital signs with you until your hands stop shaking.

Amelia

And that support system is huge, especially when real life keeps happening during school. Because let us be real, life does not pause just because you enrolled in a healthcare program. Your car alternator might go out, your kid gets sick, your landlord raises the rent. That is usually when students want to throw in the towel and drop out.

Tyrone Wigfall

And that is exactly where we step in differently. When life throws a punch at one of our students, we do not just say, well, sorry, read the syllabus, pay your fee. No! We sit down with you. We figure out, okay, do we need to shift you to a different pace? Do you need a study group? Do you need extra lab time? We do not let a temporary life hiccup wreck your long term future. If you stay committed, we will stay in the trenches with you.

Amelia

So how do you get past that initial spike? Because people get paralyzed trying to figure out the next five years. They start thinking, okay, if I take this CNA class, then I have to do this shift, then what if my car breaks down in six months, what if I can't afford the next certification...

Tyrone Wigfall

You drop the five year plan. Seriously. Throw it out. We talk about the fifteen minute clarity rule. You don't need to know how you're going to pass your final board exam three months from now. You don't need to know how you're going to manage your schedule in November. Do you have fifteen minutes of focus right now? That's it. Fifteen minutes to fill out the form, or fifteen minutes to ask your manager for a schedule shift, or fifteen minutes to sit down and register. You don't build a career in a grand gesture, you build it fifteen minutes at a time.

Amelia

That part about non traditional students hits so hard, Tyrone. Because so many people walking into healthcare programs are carrying this heavy mental luggage from ten years ago. Bad grades in high school, a failed class at a community college, a debt they couldn't pay, or just feeling like, well, I'm thirty five, I'm forty, I missed my window, I'm just not smart enough for this stuff.

Tyrone Wigfall

Man, that lies to people every single day. Look, healthcare is not about whether you pulled a four point zero grade point average when you were seventeen years old. Healthcare is about empathy, discipline, and being present for a human being who is having the worst day of their life. Your past academic stumbles or your financial struggles don't mean you aren't smart enough. They just mean you were living real life without a safety net.

Amelia

And when our students finally realize that, when they realize their past struggles are actually what make them compassionate healthcare workers, everything changes. They go from doubting themselves in class to walking into clinical rotations with head held high.

Tyrone Wigfall

That is the moment right there. When a student who thought they could not do it stands at graduation, put on their clinical badge, and realizes they did it. Not because life was easy or smooth, but because they showed up for themselves fifteen minutes at a time.

Amelia

Mmm. That is powerful. And honestly, if you are sitting here listening to us right now, feeling that tug in your chest, stop waiting for permission. Just hit send on the tab. Stop waiting for the perfect day when everything falls into place, because that day does not exist.

Tyrone Wigfall

That's right. Just hit send on the tab! If you stay where you are, twelve months from now you'll be in the exact same spot, working the exact same shifts, feeling that exact same itch for something better. Don't let familiar discomfort trap you. Take that fifteen minutes today.

Amelia

Tap that browser tab, fill out the application, or just give us a call at ISH. We are in your corner, and we can't wait to see you walk through those doors.

Tyrone Wigfall

Thank you for spending time with us today on No Names, Just Vibes. Keep showing up for yourselves, keep pushing, and we will catch you on the next episode. Peace and love, everybody.

Amelia

Bye, everyone! Take care!