Looking for Positive Things As We Near Thanksgiving

As we near Thanksgiving, I increasingly find myself looking for positive things—partly to help diminish my sadness about the still-mounting COVID-19 deaths and the nearly universal strain that everyone, perhaps especially those in health care, seems to be feeling.

As I wrote in last November’s editorial:

“Though I’m by no means a Pollyanna, I do believe incessant dwelling on the negatives doesn’t help any of us; we also need to examine the positives. I recall how exhausting it was to work a long, hard shift alongside someone who complained about everything. The negativity colored my own perceptions and stayed with me well after the shift ended. Conversely, working with colleagues who offered support and voiced a “we will get through this” attitude inspired confidence and optimism. My first nurse manager in the ED was superb at this, especially during some very harrowing shifts.” […]

2021-11-23T15:17:39-05:00November 23rd, 2021|wellness|0 Comments
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Finding Ways to Be Thankful

As we near Thanksgiving, I increasingly find myself looking for positive things—things to help diminish the sadness over the mounting COVID-19 deaths…

So begins my editorial in the November issue of AJN.

As a former ED nurse, I recall working many Thanksgivings. Though I missed holiday dinners with my family, the stark reality of what my patients and their families were dealing with always put things into perspective.

This year, though I won’t be working, I will still be missing my family on Thanksgiving. My husband and I usually host a large dinner, which we’ve cancelled this year in following recommendations to avoid such gatherings. I know many others are doing the same. […]

2020-11-25T10:09:39-05:00November 25th, 2020|Nursing, wellness|0 Comments
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A Thanksgiving Note on Thankfulness from AJN’s Editor-in-Chief

cranberriesI’m looking forward to Thanksgiving. After an emotional and sometimes divisive election year, I welcome the opportunity to turn my thoughts to something positive for a bit. Whatever our allegiances, we’ve come to a watershed moment in our country and we need to find ways to regroup as a nation, examine how we came to this place, and find ways to move forward in a way that benefits all of us. This may mean something different for each of us.

For now, it’s important to stop to think about the good things that are in our lives and not dwell solely on what distresses us.

Here are some reasons I have to be thankful:

I’m grateful for a year in which I have not lost a close friend or family member.

I’m grateful to be working with people I like who are committed to doing good work.

I’m grateful to all those folks who make life work for all of us—the mail deliverers, the sanitation workers, police and fire departments, the people in the grocery store—all who show up and do their jobs.

I’m grateful to all the nurses who show up every day, including Thanksgiving, and provide the care that every patient depends on.

And yes, I’m grateful to live in a great country that has faced many challenges, reconciled many differences, made so many great contributions to the world, and always eventually found a way to preserve our core freedoms while adapting to the one constant, […]

2016-11-23T11:57:14-05:00November 21st, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments
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Counting Your Blessings

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

A perhaps idealized past: 'Home for Thanksgiving,' Currier and Ives lithograph/Wikimedia Commons A perhaps idealized past: ‘Home for Thanksgiving,’ Currier and Ives lithograph/Wikimedia Commons

At the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., it’s customary to take some time to reflect on our good fortune—to give thanks for what we have. For many of us, it means being thankful for family and good health. But what about all the other people who may make a difference in how we live our lives, who make the world in which we live better or in some indirect way have had an impact on what we do, how we do it, how we feel about life or our work?

Here are some folks I’d like to thank:

2016-11-21T13:03:29-05:00November 26th, 2014|career, infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Giving Thanks for Meaning in a Nonclinical Setting

Julianna Paradisi, RN, OCN, writes a monthly post for this blog and works as an infusion nurse in outpatient oncology. The illustration of this post is by the author.

NiceNurseSome Thanksgiving seasons, it feels like the only specific nursing thing to be thankful for is the overstocked larder of the staff lounge, marking the advent of The Season of Eating.

I’m being facetious. Actually, there’s lots to be thankful for in nursing, including a regular paycheck, which is not taken for granted. However, most nursing units remain understaffed, despite hoards of nursing school graduates desperately seeking jobs—creating a no-net gain on the gratitude side of the ledger.

Ethical issues and long hours also make finding gratitude a challenge. It’s not the gifts from patients of flavored popcorn and boxes of chocolates in the staff lounge that warm a nurse’s heart so much as the handwritten cards accompanying them, thanking us for their care. For nurses, finding meaning in what we do goes hand in hand with gratitude.

This season, however, I was surprised by an opportunity to find meaning as a nurse outside of a clinical setting, and I want to share the experience.

One afternoon, a neighbor came to my door asking for help. She is the mother of two small children, and her toddler had accidentally burnt his hand in the kitchen. She’d taken him to the emergency department and […]

2018-03-28T10:27:41-04:00November 25th, 2013|career, nursing perspective|6 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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