Did you know the term burnout was first used to describe exhausted an disillusioned health care workers in the 60's, it certainly was a very relevant term. As nurses it is not uncommon for us to suffer from burn out at some point, this condition is especially prevalent in high acuity areas such as the ER, ICU and Oncology but I think you can suffer it in every speciality, certainly more so if you have one of more bullies in your team! At a time in nursing when nursing informatics is changing the face of clinical care so much (really when I walk on the floor now often nurses are glued to computer monitors and smart phones and not walking the halls and talking to each other!), and we are being asked to do more with less, who would not get burned out.
For me it is cyclical, I can have peace and harmony for a while then juggling all the different roles I have, clinician, nurse educator, consultant suddenly tumbles like a good game of Jenga and I have to step back and breath a little. For me that means slowing down, making sure I get to that kickboxing and yoga class (really, it helps sooo much), get a good nights sleep and take care of my diet. Small changes somehow make me feel a little more in control of the chaos that surrounds me, let's face it, it surrounds us all. My family always knows when I am super stressed as I am in the kitchen making a dinner that Julia Child would be proud of. Somehow creating something nutritious centers me, not surprisingly the family are not too upset when I get stressed......they know they are going to get fed.
Taking a step back and taking care of myself also helps me put those bullies and the control I am allowing them to have in my life into some perspective. As I hinted in my last post a bully usually lashes out because they are operating from a place of pain, insecurity, surely someone who is that nasty must be in personal pain of some kind. It allows me to think compassionately about that toxic person in my life without condoning their behavior and reestablish good boundaries, so I do not let the bully bother me so much and let them know how little they may get away with at my emotional expense.
The last couple of weeks have been that crazy for me and this week even though I perceived I had no time I walked the dog around the reservoir and just took in the colors and the great weather, went that extra mile at kickboxing (boy does it make me sleep better) and determined to make that yoga class tonight before my 4.30am start tomorrow for pediatric clinicals, which is going really well. Heck I love students.
I promise this is the last post on bullying for a while but probably not the last word on taking care of ourselves as nurses. We have to give ourselves permission to put ourselves first for at least 5 minutes a day and have/be a great day!!!!
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