The nursing profession needed help a long time before the pandemic. Ask any nurse what the profession is like & my bet is that there would be many different answers but that most nurses will likely roll their eyes and say…… “It’s kinda like living in ….H….E….L….L….. trying to do your best to be patient & kind & loving while just being plain butt exhausted all the time & treated like a healthcare commodity.” The nursing daily grind before COVID was difficult because it seemed like there were never enough nurses to take care of the patients the way they deserve to be cared for in our healthcare institutions & then ….. HOLY CRAP ….. in comes the pandemic and resources became even more of a challenge. But here we are, we are nurses and we care and we want to return to some state of normalcy. The problem is that the status quo is different, the bar has been moved or seizes to exist. No one seems to have the answers to what “normal” is anymore.
So what is the new normal???? How is nursing, as a profession, going to recover from pandemic when the profession was struggling before the chaos started? What should nurses be doing right now to help the future of healthcare and the nursing profession? The answer to that question is that no one has the answers as to what “normal” is or what it’s going to look like in the future. There are expert teams are looking into the future of health care and nursing in order to facilitate a new normal but no one agrees or has the answer readily available.
So, what now for individual nurses? The answer is within each of us, we just have to reach within ourselves. We can and will survive in all the disorder and craziness. We are strong and courageous!! Mark my words…..we will survive and thrive.
Here is part of the answer, nurses need to talk about self care and self love from a different angel. One where we can care for ourselves, treat each other with respect & not let the world beat us down. Nursing is a rewarding profession so let’s all stay!! We don’t have to feel stuck or lost….. no madam! …………….
We can survive and thrive!!
Let’s get something straight right away. Self care is not taking a meditation or yoga class at lunch time, a date night out with our partner or even taking antianxiety meds. Self care comes from within, it’s where the ‘rubber meets the road”. Nurses are nurturing and caring people by nature…..many of us were ‘called’ to the profession early or after an event where we realized that our jam is caring for others. We are great at caring for others and seeing their needs. BUT……we also need to get our own act straight so we can nurture our own souls before we give away too much & burnout the heck out.
The nursing profession, as a whole, will benefit when individual nurses learn to get their rewards and “ata girls” from themselves instead of looking for external rewards. This kind of self love is hard because we haven’t grown up with the ability to just do it, true self love is something we need to reteach ourselves. We knew it as kids and the world has beat it out of us.
Let’s talk about self care and self love & how to take care of ourselves because, honestly, if we start from within the “Ripple Effect” will calm the rest of our world. What’s the “Ripple Effect” you ask? It is taking care of our inner goddess (god), soul and our physical body so that we, as nurses, can help others heal and be well. It’s about keeping ourselves healthy enough to carry on during our days with emotional and physical resilience.
We all started our nursing careers with common traits – we are healers – lovers – fixers and we like people (mostly). Our true gifts to the world are healing and love & so we entered professional nurse’s training. Nursing school curriculums fail to teach us the most important part of the nursing care plan and that is the nurse needs to know how to stay healthy in order to survive in a profession which demands empathy, sympathy and compassion for others.
My personal nursing journey has brought me to the point where I want to reach out and help my kindred spirits. My professional calling is to help nurses stay in the profession that they love!!! So I am going to map this out for us and work on building a community of healthy nurses who love their colleagues, the profession and, most importantly, themselves.
Nurses are AMAZING, TALENTED, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE so please join me on my website, read the blog posts and get ready for coaching services in 2024. Be forewarned that by posts might be goofy some days or overly simple or just pain butt too serious but my intentions are noble! Join me so we can all work together, as nurses, who show up to help their communities by taking hold of our careers and owning our own person growth.
Love ya lots & you are amazing!!
Light Heart