Burnout

  Sorry for the layoff folks but I think this nurse is starting to feel the burn. Lately I have wanted to do nothing more than sleep, more so than usual, and stare at the TV. My brain feels like it has turned to mush when it comes to anything other than work. Thankfully I finally wrangled more than two days off in a row, which if you work night shift equals one day of sleeping and one day off. 

  
This is what I feel like life has become for me in the last few weeks. This week I finally decided to make a stand and squeeze in some time for ME.  I took some time to catch up on all the things I haven't had time to do. I actually read the pile of magazines that had accumulated on my coffee table, found time to actually see other people, and finally get that hair cut I have been promising myself. Now I actually feel like a real person again.


  Take this as a bit of a warning, find the time to take care of yourself, whether you are a student or a working nurse. Our schedules are hectic, we try to cram as much as we can into our days to "take care of business", but neglect ourselves in the process. I know we all have other things going on like kids, other jobs and spouses, and being nurses we naturally give a lot of ourselves, we wouldn't be in this business if we didn't, but we have to learn to take time for ourselves.

   The hardest thing for me to learn was to say no, but I have been finding myself doing it more often lately, and I found out I feel better for it. Not that I have been neglecting real, important things, but that I have learned that there are all sorts of little things that get piled on my plate that I say yes to that eat away at what little time that I have. I would love to help everyone and say yes to every request but lately I have had to be totally honest with myself and ask do I really want to do this, do I really have the time, and can I really put the amount of time into it to do it right? If I can't say yes to all three questions then it's time to say no. 

  We all have to learn where are limits are, and no post about preventing burnout really is going to be helpful, it's all about testing your limits and being smart enough to know when to say stop. I'm just here to say I found my point, be smart and realize where yours is. 

Take care all! I'm going to go sit in the pool and enjoy this day off, if it's your day off enjoy it!