CRNA vs FNP — how I ended up doing both

Back when I graduated nursing school in 2013, my plan was to be a CRNA. And I was doing everything right. I had a high GPA, I had did all the prerequisites, I took advanced path physiology and got an A in that. And back then, you didn't see a lot of black nurses in the ICUs. So I eventually just gave up and I was working med surge. Um, but I was outgrowing the unit. So I applied for my plan B, which was family nurse practitioner, school. And my co-workers still encouraged me to go to a different hospital and just try an ICU because I was charge nurse two months out from orientation at 22 years old. I was a really strong nurse. So I took a $20,000 pay cut and I started the FNP program at the same exact time. And back then we took a lot of our core classes with the CRNA students, our core science classes. And I was still getting A's. So I was starting to feel bitter and I felt like I walked away from my calling. I felt like I walked away from the thing that I was meant to do. So I ended up going to my advisor's office one day and I was crying hysterically y'all. And I was in tears and I just told her the truth. I was expecting her to say no, it's too late or something like that. But she looked at me and said, you're an ICU nurse, so just apply next cycle. And I did, y'all. And I got in. And Plan B didn't replace Plan A. I say all of this to say that sometimes things may look like a detour for us, but really sometimes they're just preparation.