Stacy Brennan had never wanted to be a nurse.
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Born in Horsham, Ms Brennan moved to Melbourne in 2003, where she worked as a receptionist at various offices - all of them related to the medical field.
After moving back to Horsham in 2012, Ms Brennan said her mother had proposed the idea of her becoming a nurse.
"She kept pestering me and now I love it," she said.
"I thank her very much for pushing me into it because I do love it, it is something I enjoy."
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Ms Brennan is one of the thousands of people celebrated during International Nurses Day, which happened on Tuesday, May 11.
The day also marks the birth of modern nursing founder Florence Nightingale.
Ms Brennan studied nursing for three years at Federation University and completed her graduate year at the Wimmera Base Hospital.
In 2016, she completed her graduate year and was offered a job at the hospital's Oxley acute ward, where she has worked since.
She remembered how difficult the first weeks of being a full-time nurse were.
"That is one of the scariest things. To go from a student nurse to an actual grown up nurse. The first couple of shifts you are absolutely petrified," she said.
"When you are a student you can't do anything by yourself basically, you have to make sure there is someone with you all the time.
"The first two or three weeks that you are by yourself as a nurse you are looking after these five patients and they are your responsibility, there is always someone around - but making sure you get the drugs right at the right time, it is a very scary thought for the first couple of weeks."
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Having started nursing later in life, at 28-years-old, Ms Brennan said she felt she was better equipped to handle the stresses of the job.
"The good thing I found about starting nursing later was that it was something that I actually want to do, not something that you do once you get out of school because you have to," she said.
" It was really good that I waited that little bit longer, got my life experience and at my previous jobs learned how to talk to people. You have that little bit more of a confidence boost.
"It is a shock to the system. Some of the things you see and hear and witness, it can really be quite a shock.
"That is why I have a really dark sense of humour - you'll find that most nurses do as our coping mechanism to deal with the things we see every day."
Being a nurse can inflict a mental and physical toll, something Ms Brennan said she has had to deal with in the past.
" With people dying. It is a hard thing to get used to - you never get used to it. You learn how to cope with it and you know what you would want for a family member so you treat it like a reverse situation," she said.
"Yes it is a horrible, horrible thing that happens - but we have to make the person in the bed the priority and the family members okay as well."
Ms Brennan is involved with the Horsham Arts Council, something she said takes away the stress of a hard day.
She has served on the committee of the arts council and participated in many of the company's productions, singing, dancing and acting.
The arts council has recently finished casting for its production of High School Musical, in which she will play a behind-the-scenes role as floor manager.
" If I have a horrible day at work and go to a rehearsal or meeting that night I know I am going to be around people who aren't going to talk about nursing. They sort of get you back to reality a little bit," she said.
"A glass of wine at 3.30 has sporadically happened. I have a very supportive family as well, they support me in what I do and the other team members, my bosses are all nurses and they know what it is like."
Ms Brennan said dealing with patients passing away and unfortunate diagnosis', such as young people with cancer, were the most challenging parts of being a nurse.
"You just have to put your big girl pants on and deal with it. You just have to put yourself in the patients shoes," she said.
"If you walk in with a huff and a puff that is not going to make them feel any better."
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