When life hands you lemons: a lesson on not letting allergies hold you back!

As much as we like to not believe it, our allergies do hold us back sometimes in life. But, I think what really matters is how we handle the situation and over come it! My dream is too become a nurse and next year I will be starting schooling to fulfill that dream. The job seems safe for allergies right? Clean, not a lot of food and hey it’s in a hospital? Well like everything in life there is always little bumps along the way. I am in my grade 12 year right now and working on getting a co-op placement at the hospital for next semester. I applied for the geriatrics wing and had an interview this week. The interview was going perfectly until my allergies came up in conversation and they saw that as an automatic red flag. For liability reasons I was not able to be in the geriatrics wing because my co-op would be during meal time and it was too much of a risk. Luckily the interviewers had alternatives for me and I will find out if I got a position later this week but, as you can imagine this was upsetting. This was not some school potluck I had to leave or a close call at lunch with friends, this is my dream. Something I want to do for the rest of my life. Hearing you can’t do something, even if it is in your best interest, can be hard to take. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather be in a section that if safe for me and its best to figure this all out now before I enter the work field, but it’s still hard. But, like I always say, you just need to remain positive and learn from the experience. This minor bump in the road won’t change my dreams of becoming a nurse, just trains me for the obstacles I will face later in life. No matter the profession I would eventually face a similar situation. It will feel like your allergies are getting in the way of your dreams sometimes but don’t let them. There is always an alternative and a way to work around a sucky situation. If you are passionate about your dreams, follow them and fight for what you want. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!