I go to God with all the desires of my heart including answers to my nursing stress. Although I suppose it could be argued that God already knows every desire of my heart. But that's not the point. The real reason I do this is so that I become aware of my every desire.
It's important to be clear about what you want. If you're not clear about how you want your life to look like, that's what you'll get...an unclear, willy-nilly life that someone else (your job, your family, society) is defining for you. Yes, God already knows my every desire. But until I write it down (pen to paper) I'm not always aware. And mark my words, asking God for my heart's desires via PEN TO PAPER is very, very powerful. Remember: Seek and yee shall find. Seeking is asking.
Now, do I pout if I don't get that brand new perfect home filing system the very next day after asking for it? Or do I pout if the relationship with my anxiety-ridden mother doesn't improve over night? Or what if the new wardrobe I asked for seems to allude me for a while? Do I worry and fret over it? No.
Because I am in 100% acceptance of God's wisdom and generosity and timing. His Plan B or his "longer than I expected" version of my Plan A is always, always okay with me. In fact, I trust God's Plan B for me over my own Plan A. Ultimately, I guess you could say that I trust infinite God rather than my finite self. It's called faith. It's acquired by including God in everything you do. Asking him to fulfill your heart's desires (small and big) is the best way to build a strong relationship with him. And, by the way, that's the best gift I can ever pass on to another human being...the certainty that my God loves me and wants me happy.
A couple months ago, I wrote down that my husband gives me gifts at the most unexpected times. He's always been a wonderful partner but since then he's been even more so. The other morning, he made me a killer breakfast burrito AND paid to have new gears put on my bike (loaded and unloaded my bike into the car), along with being Mr. Fix-it around the house. I won't even mention the wonderful massage he gave me. Lovely. :)
Less than a month ago, I wrote down that I get out on time and that I'm always able to complete my charting on time just to name a few items. (there were more!) The next week, I went into work and a new feature had been added to our charting system. An "Auto Enter" button had been added. In other words, if data is exactly the same (and in many cases it is from one shift to another), we can now hit the auto enter button to copy it over. No more individual clicking in certain areas! Quicker charting means better chance of getting out on time. Hooray! An answer to my nursing stress...coincidence? I think not!
These are just a few examples. I've got more. I ask. Learn to ask too.
Take good care,
Theresa
P.S. Now that I think of it, I did get a wonderful filing system and 2 free hours of help setting it up; I recently had fun picking out three really cute tops at a great discount; and I've gotten a lot of insight into my mom lately...no need to pout.
Showing posts with label stress in nursing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress in nursing. Show all posts
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Nursing Stress - Her Lesson And My Lesson
Nursing stress can add up quickly. Between the cell phone and the pager, the demands seem to come all at once at times. And sometimes just projecting on the fact that I know I'm going to be "pulled in multiple directions at once" can bring the most nursing stress of all. However, my patient taught me a lesson the other day...and I'd like to think that I did the same for her.
My day started off like any other day. Unpredictable. No sooner did I get my pager and my phone handed to me then off it went with a message stating "room #-- wants to discharge." I dropped what I was doing and went straight to my patient's room to give her a time frame for her discharge. On my way, I stopped my nurse assistant to see what the patient's morning vitals were. "Hmmm, heart rate is 130, but no fever? All other vitals within normal limits. Interesting," I thought.
She was anxious, speaking very quickly and had a very concerned look on her face. "Am I going to discharge? Can I have a pain pill? What's the plan?" she blurted out as soon as I introduced myself. I explained that I would discharge her a.s.a.p. and I brought her a pain pill. After all, according to her chart, the doctor had discharged her two days previous. Each day, however, the discharge got cancelled due to various reasons.
Ten minutes later, I get another page for the same patient. This page says, "room #-- throwing up." I drew up an IV anti-anxiety med. (with anti-emetic properties) and an IV antacid med. When I returned to her room, she had just thrown up about 300 ml's of green liquid and was sitting on the toilet with the trashcan between her knees. I soon learned that I could definitely rule out bowel obstruction.
She was a mess. She just kept repeating over and over, "How can I go home if I'm throwing up? I want to go home, but I'm afraid." I told her that I had brought the medication but that I wanted to talk to her about something. I wanted to talk to her about her anxiety.
I told her that I knew about anxiety from first-hand experience and I've had to learn to cope with anxiety in healthy ways. I told her that she needed to learn to recognize whenever she felt herself "working herself into a lather" and getting anxious (HR raising). I explained that it appeared that she had just had an anxiety attack. Anxiety starts in the mind. In this case, her body had joined her mind in "living in the future". I told her that the bottom line was that whenever a person is experiencing anxiety, they are living a month from now, a year from now, a day from now, etc. They are mentally living in the future and projecting the worst.
It was as if I turned on a light. She began quickly speaking about how anxious she was about going home and what the future held (chemo). She had never had to deal with this type of thing before. Basically, she spilled her guts and cried with relief as she acknowledged her anxious state. Her husband also readily admitted to having depression and anxiety issues.
We talked about how acknowledging her anxiety could be a tremendous gift. She was going to get to learn other ways of coping. They both were. We talked about how she and her husband could embrace the journey into healthy coping techniques or they could continue to fight it. They both acknowledged what I was saying as being true for them and vowed to learn better coping.
The rest of the day got progressively better. By the end of the shift, she had kept down two small meals (lunch and dinner) and hadn't thrown up again. She even waved to me in the hallway as her and her husband walked by.
Her lesson: Anxiety is living in the future, projecting the worst. Living in tomorrow and being sure that tomorrow is going to be horrible.
My lesson: Once again, the power of the present moment is everything. I choose to believe that my God exists in the now, the present moment. He's not off in the future somewhere. He's right in the now with me. The future hasn't happened yet. And I'm not a puppet being controlled by God. He gave me free will. I get choices. No matter what I choose, he knows how to help me through it and support me. That's his job. He does all the heavy lifting. In fact, he wants me to get in touch with my heart's desires so that I can experience true joy and happiness in this life. It's my job to ask my Creator to fulfill my heart's desires...yes, it's my job to do that...because that's how I can build my faith and trust in him. That's how I can experience his love for me.
Projecting into the future about nursing stress is a surefire way to bring more of it into your life. On the other hand, living in the now, asking for what you want and appreciating what you already have is part of a powerful solution.
If you'd like to know more about living in the now, staying ahead of nursing stress, and how to ask for your heart's desires, visit this link. Read the e-book, "I'm Rich Beyond My Wildest Dreams. I am. I am. I am." The book contains a straight forward system for asking and receiving. Plus, you may learn some new reasons that confirm why it's so important to live positively in the now.
Take good care,
Theresa
My day started off like any other day. Unpredictable. No sooner did I get my pager and my phone handed to me then off it went with a message stating "room #-- wants to discharge." I dropped what I was doing and went straight to my patient's room to give her a time frame for her discharge. On my way, I stopped my nurse assistant to see what the patient's morning vitals were. "Hmmm, heart rate is 130, but no fever? All other vitals within normal limits. Interesting," I thought.
She was anxious, speaking very quickly and had a very concerned look on her face. "Am I going to discharge? Can I have a pain pill? What's the plan?" she blurted out as soon as I introduced myself. I explained that I would discharge her a.s.a.p. and I brought her a pain pill. After all, according to her chart, the doctor had discharged her two days previous. Each day, however, the discharge got cancelled due to various reasons.
Ten minutes later, I get another page for the same patient. This page says, "room #-- throwing up." I drew up an IV anti-anxiety med. (with anti-emetic properties) and an IV antacid med. When I returned to her room, she had just thrown up about 300 ml's of green liquid and was sitting on the toilet with the trashcan between her knees. I soon learned that I could definitely rule out bowel obstruction.
She was a mess. She just kept repeating over and over, "How can I go home if I'm throwing up? I want to go home, but I'm afraid." I told her that I had brought the medication but that I wanted to talk to her about something. I wanted to talk to her about her anxiety.
I told her that I knew about anxiety from first-hand experience and I've had to learn to cope with anxiety in healthy ways. I told her that she needed to learn to recognize whenever she felt herself "working herself into a lather" and getting anxious (HR raising). I explained that it appeared that she had just had an anxiety attack. Anxiety starts in the mind. In this case, her body had joined her mind in "living in the future". I told her that the bottom line was that whenever a person is experiencing anxiety, they are living a month from now, a year from now, a day from now, etc. They are mentally living in the future and projecting the worst.
It was as if I turned on a light. She began quickly speaking about how anxious she was about going home and what the future held (chemo). She had never had to deal with this type of thing before. Basically, she spilled her guts and cried with relief as she acknowledged her anxious state. Her husband also readily admitted to having depression and anxiety issues.
We talked about how acknowledging her anxiety could be a tremendous gift. She was going to get to learn other ways of coping. They both were. We talked about how she and her husband could embrace the journey into healthy coping techniques or they could continue to fight it. They both acknowledged what I was saying as being true for them and vowed to learn better coping.
The rest of the day got progressively better. By the end of the shift, she had kept down two small meals (lunch and dinner) and hadn't thrown up again. She even waved to me in the hallway as her and her husband walked by.
Her lesson: Anxiety is living in the future, projecting the worst. Living in tomorrow and being sure that tomorrow is going to be horrible.
My lesson: Once again, the power of the present moment is everything. I choose to believe that my God exists in the now, the present moment. He's not off in the future somewhere. He's right in the now with me. The future hasn't happened yet. And I'm not a puppet being controlled by God. He gave me free will. I get choices. No matter what I choose, he knows how to help me through it and support me. That's his job. He does all the heavy lifting. In fact, he wants me to get in touch with my heart's desires so that I can experience true joy and happiness in this life. It's my job to ask my Creator to fulfill my heart's desires...yes, it's my job to do that...because that's how I can build my faith and trust in him. That's how I can experience his love for me.
Projecting into the future about nursing stress is a surefire way to bring more of it into your life. On the other hand, living in the now, asking for what you want and appreciating what you already have is part of a powerful solution.
If you'd like to know more about living in the now, staying ahead of nursing stress, and how to ask for your heart's desires, visit this link. Read the e-book, "I'm Rich Beyond My Wildest Dreams. I am. I am. I am." The book contains a straight forward system for asking and receiving. Plus, you may learn some new reasons that confirm why it's so important to live positively in the now.
Take good care,
Theresa
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Welcome to RN Stress Solutions!
Welcome all nurses! All are welcome who have a genuine interest in finding solutions to the stress in our lives!
Has Stress Ever Made You Speechless?
As you know, nursing (and health care in general) is a very stressful profession. You have probably complained about the stress related to your job on many occasions. I know I have. In fact, it has often left me speechless around family and friends because it's too much to discuss with just anyone. That's where this blog comes in. However, the purpose of this forum is not just to discuss the gory details of my work day. In fact, efforts will be made to avoid that. Instead, the goal here is to offer the solutions I use in my life to fight back against the work and life stresses that we are all under.
Stress Ain't Goin' Away
Stress comes in many forms...occupational, physical, spiritual, emotional and mental to name a few. Therefore, this blog will contain many different types of solutions to combat stress. This will be an informal discussion on "my stress lessons" if you will.
Stress in inevitable. This blog is sort of going to be my back up plan for the stress in my life. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to share this blog with my fellow nurses and help you cope better with your stress too!
Question: What are some of the things you do as your "back up plan for stress"? To Answer, simply leave your answer as a "comment". Simply hit "Comments" at the bottom of my blog post and type away!
Wishing you good health,
Theresa Waller, RN
714 293 5398
rnstresssolutions@gmail.com
Has Stress Ever Made You Speechless?
As you know, nursing (and health care in general) is a very stressful profession. You have probably complained about the stress related to your job on many occasions. I know I have. In fact, it has often left me speechless around family and friends because it's too much to discuss with just anyone. That's where this blog comes in. However, the purpose of this forum is not just to discuss the gory details of my work day. In fact, efforts will be made to avoid that. Instead, the goal here is to offer the solutions I use in my life to fight back against the work and life stresses that we are all under.
Stress Ain't Goin' Away
Stress comes in many forms...occupational, physical, spiritual, emotional and mental to name a few. Therefore, this blog will contain many different types of solutions to combat stress. This will be an informal discussion on "my stress lessons" if you will.
Stress in inevitable. This blog is sort of going to be my back up plan for the stress in my life. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to share this blog with my fellow nurses and help you cope better with your stress too!
Question: What are some of the things you do as your "back up plan for stress"? To Answer, simply leave your answer as a "comment". Simply hit "Comments" at the bottom of my blog post and type away!
Wishing you good health,
Theresa Waller, RN
714 293 5398
rnstresssolutions@gmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
