Navigating the Nursing Journey with Purpose

Nurses, what’s next?

As a labor and delivery nurse, I am part of one of life’s biggest moments for families I may never meet again. This calling requires a positive attitude and an ability to instill hope throughout each 12-hour shift. But at a certain point, I found myself feeling exhausted and disconnected from this work, and all my effort to maintain a cheerful demeanor and engagement only exacerbated the burnout. This toxic positivity, or pressure to exude optimism, had a pernicious effect on my well-being and I found myself at the polar opposite state from compassion.

I heard chatter in the break room and hallways from colleagues who were experiencing similar exhaustion, and although I was keenly aware of the tools and resources available from my organization—employee assistance programs, wellness calendars, etcetera—I didn’t know any nurses who used them, and I didn’t know how participating in these activities would alleviate my burnout.

Reconnecting to your purpose.

Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash

While pursuing my doctor of nursing practice degree, I began performing research on the impact of recognizing one’s purpose on job satisfaction and work engagement. Defining your purpose can be challenging. Simply saying “I am a labor and delivery nurse” doesn’t describe […]

2023-10-16T14:58:02-04:00October 16th, 2023|career, nursing career, wellness|2 Comments

Nurse Burnout Recovery: Healing Ourselves to Better Serve Patients

Shedding parts of us that no longer serve us.

Photo by Javardh on Unsplash

A couple months ago, I shared my experience with burnout and lessons learned from it. This experience propelled me into a healing journey. This healing journey wasn’t just about a newfound appreciation for “self-care.” Guided by several mentors, coaches, and healers, it incorporated modalities such as energy healing, spiritual healing, mindset work, inner child work, meditation, breathwork, and journaling. Burnout had initiated an intense deconstruction and deprogramming process that made it clear it was time to shed the pieces of me that were no longer serving me.

During this healing journey I asked myself:

  • Why do I do what I do?
  • Why do I feel that I’m not good enough/smart enough/skilled enough to take care of my patients?
  • Why do I feel like I can’t prioritize myself and my own needs so I can take better care of my patients?
  • Why do I feel like it’s not safe to speak up if I have a concern?
  • Why am I afraid to fail?

After being brutally honest with myself, I realized I had to go back to where the programming began.

Confronting our fears.

As children, […]

2023-10-02T09:38:34-04:00October 2nd, 2023|Nursing, nursing perspective, wellness|1 Comment

Relaxing: An Undervalued Skill as a Nurse

Image copyright Tanya Parker

Taking the art of collage seriously.

I recently attended an art workshop at the Biggs Museum of American Art led by artist Melissa Sutherland Moss, whose work is currently on exhibit there. The award-winning artist shared her process and guided participants in creating collage art based on the themes of self-identify and reflection. With participant permission, the artwork was featured in an exhibit at the museum as a part of the Dover Citywide Black History Celebration in February.

This was not the same collaging I remembered from elementary school years. There was nothing “juvenile” about the process. In fact, the only thing that invoked nostalgia was the use of the materials (magazines, photos, and other resources) to bring my vision to fruition. My end product, shown above, was titled “Relaxation.”

A visual reflection on relaxation.

Nursing is a caring profession. We know well how to serve others (patients , families, colleagues, students), but often neglect to care for ourselves. There’s an underestimated strength in the ability to rest, “relax,” and recharge. Self-care is often an afterthought or a never-thought. It’s frequently downplayed and or dismissed. However, with self-care we are able to be a better […]

2023-03-23T09:58:39-04:00March 23rd, 2023|Nursing, wellness|7 Comments

A Nurse’s Lessons from Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Burnt-out and realizing it’s time for a change.

I had always been able to juggle family, school, and work life well, including roles as class mom, scout leader, and community volunteer, completing my doctorate in nursing, and working two jobs. But at a certain point, and despite my supportive family’s efforts, I began to burn out. Working as a nurse leader for a behavioral health unit was a dream come true and a nightmare all in one. I found myself caring so much, investing so much of myself, that I lost myself in the process.

In the hope that it would help, I moved back to nursing education. It didn’t. There was a void. I was missing something. I was missing me.

Maybe this is what burnout on the way to compassion fatigue feels like. But whatever we call it, my response was to quit my job and hike the Appalachian Trail for five months from Maine to Georgia with my husband. We’d always lived simply, and once we’d made the decision to go, the pieces fell into place.

Along the way, I made many discoveries. It’s paradoxical that I’d gone hiking to forget about nursing, yet I was reminded about it with each step.

Here are some souvenirs from the […]

2022-11-15T12:02:55-05:00November 15th, 2022|Nursing, nursing stories, wellness|0 Comments

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.” […]

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