Nursing Stress - Reconsidering Who God Is Can Be Helpful

It's extremely helpful for me in dealing with nursing stress (and all types of stress) to really have a sense of who I believe God is (for me). I just read the book, "When Bad Things Happen To Good People," by Harold S. Kushner and it was absolutely fantastic. It was very re-affirming for me.

As a young adult (age 18) I decided that I could only believe in God if I was absolutely positive that He didn't "play tricks on me." In other words, why would I want to rely on a God that was sitting up in heaven waiting to give out "tests" or "trials" or "tribulations" to certain people just because he deemed it so? In my mind that was to "human" of God...that was to little of him. He would never do that. I decided that the God that I was going to rely on was not involved in handing out punishments or tests. He was pure Love...and pure love doesn't work that way.

And so when I showed up to work yesterday and found out that I had to float to a different (unfamiliar!) floor, my first thought was NOT "God, why did you do this to me." It was, "Okay, God, let's go."

Now, prior to leaving for work, I had asked several things of God. I had asked that I feel His presence at work. I had asked that I be given whatever I needed to take care of my patients that day. I had asked that I have fun at work and that I could be joy filled at work. Using positive, "I am" statements, I asked God for what I needed.

And when I met my patients and began my day, I soon realized that God WAS with me and that he's always with me. My new co-workers (for the day) were as nice as they could be. Although the patient population was unfamiliar to me (stroke/neuro patients), I received a thorough report at the beginning of the shift and felt fairly prepared to serve them.

The day was busy but I made it through it. I even got my charting and reporting done on time! And at one point, there was a funky music CD playing, and we all starting dancing and laughing together! Incredible!

It is of paramount importance to me in coping with nursing stress that I IN NO WAY believe that God is "doing this to me" to "test" me. I would build a resentment up against God so fast it would make your head spin. I'd be a very bitter person. Things would go down hill fast, believe me!

The fact that I view God as a source of perfect love, as my refuge, as my safe place and as an agent of my internal change. This is CRITICAL. This means that I can turn to him to help me cope as opposed to view him from afar as a source that is constantly testing me to see if I can cope or not.

Did God cause those patients to have debilitating strokes? Did he give them various co-morbidities such as the diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis because he felt their brain damage was not enough? Did he decide that their family members weren't being "good" enough so they must be made to suffer at the bedsides of their loved ones day and night? Is that the God that I'm supposed to believe in?

I don't think so. God is in the heart of the nurse who watches over and takes care of these patients. He's in the heart of the nurse assistant who gives these patients their bed baths. He's in the heart of the physical therapist who gets the confused patient out of bed to walk in the hallway. He's in the heart of the doctor who uses his knowledge to properly prescribe for these patients. And the list goes on and on.

God is in the care and love and tending to that we receive during challenging times. God provides courage to the family members to keep on going to the bedside. God is always part of the solution. God is not up there playing cruel games on us.

That knowledge helps me cope with the stress in nursing. And so I ask God for what I need to cope. Do yourself a favor, learn how to ask.

God Bless,
Theresa

Nursing Stress: Are You Willing To Try Something New?

I use the same system for dealing with life stresses as I do to deal with nursing stress. And the other day I had a wonderful experience with my daughter.

She had a pretty difficult project to complete for physics class. So off we went to Michael's craft store on Wednesday night to buy the necessary supplies to create an "NRG car" for her class. It was really dark and rainy on Wednesday night and I have to admit I was exhausted by the time we got home from the store. But the work was just beginning.

We worked on the car until 11:30pm that night. After working with a faulty design for what seemed like forever, we finally had a breakthrough. We redesigned the car for the better...but time ran out...we had to go to bed.

The next day (Thursday) the pressure was on because it was our last day to work on the design. Friday morning was the deadline. She would have to demonstrate to the teacher that the car could move on 1 Joule of energy for a minimum of 16 feet (5 meters). After the breakthrough from the day before, she decided to completely start from scratch and do it right this time. All we salvaged from the previous car was the wheels. The rest was all new.

I'd like to share with you about my attitude during this project. It could have been bad. It could have been REAL BAD. I could have gotten very negative and resentful at the idea that we even had to do this project right before Christmas break. After all, aren't there enough things to worry about during this time of year? I could have "character assassinated" the teacher for being such a jerk for having assigned such a difficult project. But I didn't! Oh I had one or two tiny, itsy bitsy "slips" of negativity but that was all. I consciously decided to stay positive and to ask for the help I wanted and needed from the universe instead.

So before getting down to business on Thursday night to create an all new version of the physics car, I wrote some things down on my list:

*We have all the supplies we need for our NRG car.
*We have divine inspiration and creativity to create this car.
*We remain positive.
*We are grateful.
*We work together well.
*We are here to learn whatever lessons we need to learn during this project.
*We are easily successful at this project.
*We have fun during this project.
*We create the NRG car that is right for us.
*We feel protection and God's help along the way.

GUESS WHAT?! Long story...I won't go into all the wonderful details...but the result was success! Sweet success! Her car went well over 16 feet (it went 6.8 meters to be exact) and it was fun doing it. She got all the help she needed during the demonstration too (in fact 2 crucial things happened right before it was her turn)!

It was glorious! It was tremendous! It was a God centered project and it felt great!

I don't take credit for the system but I do take credit for my willingness to work it. If what you're doing in your life to combat stress isn't working, you may want to try something different.

God Bless,
Theresa

Nursing Stress: Flush Out Exactly What You Want!

One of the most powerful tools I use to combat the stress of nursing or the stress of life is to write a letter to God. This is NOT a thank you letter to God. This is not a sweet letter stating how I know God is taking care of me. This is actually the opposite. This is questioning what the heck God is doing! This is hashing out the problem with God. This is an emotional plea about what to do next. And this is a very power tool!

The God letter is a very powerful tool because it leads me to flush out exactly what I need help with. Once I see the areas that I need help in, I can ask God to PROVIDE me with the help I need.

If I'm struggling with stress at work, I'll make requests such as:
I am peaceful at work.
I am calm at work.
I am focused at work.
I separate myself from stress at work.
I practice good self care at work.
I have all the resources I need to take care of my patients at work.
I leave work on time.
I have all the skills I need to take good care of my patients.
I have all the help I need at work to take care of my patient.
I have a highly qualified support team always available to help me take care of my patients.

I don't know about you but those are just some of the things that I worry about and that cause me stress in nursing. The thought of having to do it all alone is terrifying. The thought that I won't have enough help to take good care of my patients is frustrating. The thought that I may be able to "do it all" but it will cost me some overtime is infuriating. The thought that I get to go home (late) and wake up early and do it all over again is sometimes just too much to handle.

All those fearful thoughts can lead to depression and anxiety. It's living in the future and the future is not good. It's living in the future and I'm all alone. It's living in the future and there's just not enough of anything. Not a good thinking pattern to get into.

But when I take those specific fears and ask for God (or the universe, or Higher Power, or whoever) to provide for me, I instantly feel a sense of relief. That somehow, some way I'm NOT alone and that there is enough for me. And furthermore, figuring out how God is going to fix the problem or how he's going to provide what I'm asking for is NONE of my business. I don't have to know how he's gonna do it all. I just have to ask. Remembering to put my requests in the present tense (as if they have already happened) is key. It's a powerful form of prayer and it changes things.

In fact the situation may not change right away, but somehow, some way I change. I start relying on infinite God rather than my finite self. I'm not alone and I don't have to make everything happen on my own. I have a provider and a protector. It's all gonna be okay. The nursing stress eases up a little and that's the whole point.

Here's some examples of how God has provided for me recently:
**For months, my schedule requests have all been honored.
**The E.T. nurse showed up at just the right time to do a major dressing change for me.
**Some very difficult supplies (only used in the ICU) were made available to my VIP med/surg patient and brought to his bedside by the ICU nurse educator.
**I got a 4.7% pay raise (annual review).
**I had a bright student nurse intern for several weeks who lightened my workload.
**I haven't missed a break in months.
**Overtime, if any, is minimal (a few minutes, as opposed to hours).
**The pharmacy is my buddy. It recently took less than 3 minutes to receive the med I was requesting.

Are they all coincidences? I choose not to believe so AND my stress level has gone down incredibly because of my belief...and that's the whole point. The mere act of asking for help from an infinite source of supply has filled me with hope. And as far as I'm concerned, the internal and the external results speak for themselves.

Can you imagine if all nurses starting asking for help from their spiritual supplier? The patients would benefit. The nurses would benefit. Everybody wins!

I learned how to ask here.

God bless,
Theresa