Front of Book Representations Structured Inflexible Black/White Divisions Back of Book Transformations Open-Minded Flexible Gray Areas
First Year Freshman year of college at the University of Cincinnati blossomed into a year of growth. New experiences and opportunities created friendships and relationships to last a lifetime. Dorms and roommates required adaptations and accommodations to different lifestyles, and semester schemas resulted in time management of different courses. Balancing fun with friends and focus with professors challenged me to learn my limits and test my tools toward success. The routine once etched in stone developed cracks and chipped away in the face of an unfamiliar environment, until its figure took the form of a blank canvas and gradient of experimentation.
Year 2 Painting
Second Year Sophomore year of college at the University of Cincinnati brought with it another year filled with crazy memories and growth in a different sense than the previous year. The Year of Clearer Vision, as I like to call it, transformed my worldview with every new day. Each extra-ocular muscle represents a new experience that shaped the way I looked at the world. The eye muscle on the outside circumference of the eye ball, vertically starting at the base of the eyeball on the bottom and wrapping itself around it to come up on the top of the eyeball, represents my clinical nursing experience that encompasses my new feelings of compassion for people beyond the first initial impression of those I happen to meet. The eye muscle on the bottom going horizontal represents underlying family situations that concern my brother's move to Japan to work for Google. The eye muscle in the middle going horizontal represents my neutral friend group merging together this semester, since there had been issues with groups/cliques forming in the past that have now disappeared for the better. The eye muscle on the top going horizontal represents the global pandemic situation, that is on the top intentionally, due to the fact that COVID-19 has changed my family, friends, nursing school, and nursing school clinical experiences in the real world in ways that I cannot begin to describe. 20/20 Vision from this point forward, thank you for reading.
Year 3 Painting
Third Year
Nursing, the career that I have chosen for myself, has developed to be an integral part of my life throughout my third year of college. This picture represents the many different parts of my life that nursing interacts with on a daily basis. Nursing is represented by the pink background, as the over-arching theme of my life at this point in time. The flower outlined in light blue represents my mental health, the flower outlined in dark blue represents my dedication and hard work, and the flower outlined in light green represents my physical well-being. Nursing has both positive and negative effects on my mental health, as it shows me the most vulnerable moments of my patients’ lives, giving way to their most beautiful and darkest secrets to life. Nursing tests my dedication and hard work each day throughout schooling, which in turn effects my physical well-being through its interaction with my sleep schedule and my balance of physical and mental health. Nursing is a work of art, a continuum of balancing learning with humbling experiences every day.