IS YOU
You might not consider yourself a patient, but maybe you should just for a second. We take EXCELLENT care of our patients, spend 8 to 12 hours assessing, monitoring, doing interventions, and following the doctors’ orders as efficiently and as effectively as we humanly can. Often this means that we do not stay hydrated, get a lunch break, or even a chance to get to the bathroom without almost wetting our pants. If we adopted the mindset of being the nurse to ourselves as we are to the patients we serve, we would actually have a more fulfilled and balanced life.
LEARN TO CARE FOR YOURSELF BEFORE OTHERS
The concept of caring for ourselves first before we care for others does not come naturally to nurturers. Throughout nursing school, we are only taught how to perform interventions for others and care for others, when honestly, the more important lesson isn’t taught. The lesson that should be taught is how to focus on our entire wellness, mind, body, and soul to be a better nurse.
STOP BEING NEGLIGENT
Tough love time. Are you ignoring your body’s cry for a break? Complete fatigue, breakouts, anxiety, depression, and resentment towards your job or even patients? You wouldn’t neglect your patients’ needs, so why, my dear, are you ignoring yours?
LEARNING TO PRIORITIZE YOUR TIME AND NEEDS
Prioritizing your needs takes effort and planning, especially if you are in school or have other family responsibilities. Planning a morning and a nighttime routine that is simple enough to replicate on ANY given day will add a component of structure and control to even the busiest of days. I just began to integrate a morning and nighttime routine, and it has been life-changing to feel like I have a grip over some part of even my craziest days.
YOU HAVE AN UNACKNOWLEDGED ORDERS FOR AN AM AND PM ROUTINE
The routine does not have to be complicated. That is the whole point, being able to do it every day, no matter how busy or stressed you are. What has to be a part of the routine is doing something every morning, and every night that does something for your mind, body, and soul.
This might take some trial and error, but you should do something you enjoy that makes you excited to wake up and excited to wind down.
Morning Routine:
- Mind: Write down three things I am grateful for and three things I want to accomplish today
- Soul: Meditation and/or Prayer
- Body: 10 Minutes of a Yummy Slow Yoga Flow to get the Blood Pumping
Bedtime Routine:
- Mind: Brain Dump in Journal for 5-15min depending on how much I need
- Soul: I put my phone down and read until I am ready to fall asleep
- Body: 5 min Bedtime Stretch and Skin Care Routine
YOU HAVE TIME
I do not want to hear the excuse that I do not have time. You have the time you simply do not realize how you are allowed to prioritize and should prioritize, even a smidgen of a routine. Have you ever looked at your phone to quantify the amount of time you spend on apps on your phone on social media? I challenge you to look at your Screen Time App for Apple users to look at how much time you were on specific apps and social media accounts, and it might actually shock you! You need to find and make time for yourself.
TO PREVENT BURNOUT
By focusing on efforts to care for yourself first, you will be able to prevent burnout and be more resilient when you are at work and at home.
