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Bummed Out? Turn Negative Emotions into Super Power!

Bummed Out? Turn Negative Emotions into Super Power!

I know, and I understand.

There are days that negative thoughts and emotions go through your head and you can't seem to shake them off.

Being a nurse isn't easy!

(If it were, everyone would be doing it, right?)

There are normal stresses that happen both in the work environment and at home that are hard to deal with. Maybe a doctor yelled at you because you didn't have the right chart ready for them when they made their rounds. Doctors have stress factors, too.

So try to remember, it's not personal.

Life happens, and it's not all good. Maybe your dog died. You had a starter go out in the car that cost you $220, just when you thought you were getting ahead. It took two days out of your work schedule to fix it. Now you're back at work, and you don't know how to pick yourself up out of the doldrums.

The truth is everyone gets like this sometimes.

I know I do.

But we have to remind ourselves that, while life holds many unpleasant surprises,  heartaches, and disasters, it also contains many pleasures.

And one of the greatest joys is bringing happiness to others.

When you have these negative thoughts, remember this:

The patients who depend on us have these feelings, too. That's why they rely on us to lift their spirits.

Some of our patients are dealing with things that are even worse than a car problem, a lost pet, or a personal setback.

Some of them are dealing with terminal illness, depression, or pain.

When we remind ourselves of how others are struggling too, it's easy to pick up where we left off and find our second wind.

Okay, maybe it's not always easy. But it is possible!

Sometimes patients' problems bother us too.

We get attached to patients and sometimes they die.

We want to reassure them, tell them that everything will be okay. But our training reminds us we can't make any promises.

We never really know how well their surgery or procedure will go or how successful it will be in healing them. We just have to tell them to hope for the best and assure them that they are in good hands.

By being in touch with our feelings of insecurity, loss, or fear, we can help others learn to cope.

Most nurses have some training in human psychology, as well. Tap into this, plus your own experiences and remember how it helped you when that one person took the time to cheer you up.

Use this experience to give you the strength to help that one scared patient awaiting surgery or a doctor's diagnosis to help them prepare for whatever may lie in store for them.

As nurses, we can't work miracles.

But we can be their light in the tunnel of uncertainty when they need it most.

After all, that's one of the reasons we became a nurse, right?

So the next time you have a terrible day, and you don't know if you can go to work again, remember that you may be the one person that gives someone else the strength to go on.

Some of the patients who come to us have no one else to turn to.

Perhaps you'll even be someone's light in the dark tunnels of life.

Imagine being someone's light.

That's big.

That's a fantastic thing in our journey as human beings.

That's why you became a nurse.

So keep smiling through it all and make someone's life better because of they knew you.

Bringing relief to others in pain is what we do.

So use your own experiences to have empathy for your patients.

They will never forget it.

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