Nurses! Have you ever been told to "Just Relax"?

The only votes available for this article are "excellent," "good" and "average." That's a shame, as it's none of those. It sounds like an advertisement to me.

It may be an ad, but still rings true.

I appreciate your comments. To clarify TakeOne, This article was written to raise awareness-- in an attempt to obliterate the stigma that nurses do not need counseling, that the stress and toxicity come along with the job, and to create a discussion. I hope it continues to do so. If even one nurse in your work environment addresses their core rationales for burnout, they will be contagious. I feel as though we may not be able to affect change in the healthcare conglomerate, yet we can alter the perceptions of ourselves and how we respond to negativities tossed our way, therefore, the perceptions of our environments. So one peaceful and cohesive nurse creates another peaceful and cohesive nurse which causes happy and healing patients and so on and so on. As far as this being an "ad" goes, I am well within Allnurses terms and conditions, which has strict rules about advertising. This work was reviewed by the Allnurses team, and approved. At the end of the article, there was an opportunity to write a brief bio, which I did.I wonder what caused you to want to rate this article negatively, TakeOne? Is it the fact that you perceive this work to read like an ad, or is it that the content caused you to think about the context in a different manner than you normally would?Have a great day everyone!

When I was a new nurse, I was sitting in the nurse's lounge listening to my colleagues converse on a number of topics from family to work assignments. It hit me like lightening that we all shared common threads of dysfunction. I then sought counseling with someone who worked exclusively with health care providers. It was helpful, to say the least, and I would like to think that it enhanced my ability to cope with the stresses of the job. Counseling, or seeking help, carries an unfortunate stigma. Nursing has unique challenges that sap us physically and emotionally. Counseling or support groups should be encouraged not only to enhance our job performance but to help us find joy and fulfillment in all that we endeavor to do. Help, in whatever form you chose to take it, should not be considered a dirty word.

You got that right, Cherryames. It is within our expertise according to the very definition of nursing,according to the ANA that we diagnose a human's response to various circumstances and conditions (paraphrased). I believe that this creates the toxic stigma. I think that you truly tapped into your higher Self/intuition on the day you were hit by lightning! Yay!Additionally, I honestly believe that we are energetically attracted to healing in order to heal ourselves on some level. Granted, there are those of us who are either not ready to embrace this, or simply do not fall into this "category", if you will.From a professional viewpoint, I am concerned, but not shocked when I encounter professionals who like to *****, moan and complain and simply blame the system for all of our problems. Offer or suggest help, and whammo...the dukes are up! "If I fix myself there will be nothing left for me to complain about, and heck, then I will have to be responsible for my emotions and corresponding behaviors. Counseling for nurses? Nooo thanks"!While we may not be able to improve the profession of nursing, we can through counseling adjust our perspectives of it and by doing so, experience...Joy (what a concept) ahahaaMuch continued success to you!Happy Healing!

I found the article (not advertisement) enjoyable, funny and very true! I am a relatively new nurse; I have 2 years of experience. The one absolute truth IS indeed, that nurses of all professions and years go through nursing burnout. I have classmates that are experiencing it and I too have, that is until I took a step back and realized what and why I became a nurse. We get the distinct pleasure of helping people heal at their most desperate and needed times in their lives...To me, that is an honor and a privilege. Up until about 3 months ago, I never truly looked at nursing this way. I had to do some deep soul searching to find what things I needed to work on and what things were continuously making me CRAZY, STRESSED and NEGATIVE all of the time.....So, I chose to work in another hospital to "Find" my way and myself again. So, far this is working. But, what I have realized in all of this deep and dramatic soul searching quest is that negativity and optimism can both be very contagious...Happy people generally work around other happy people...It doesn’t take but one rotten apple to spoil the whole bunch so to speak. Attitude is EVERYTHING in life...It is the one thing we DO have control over! In the words of Charles Swindoll ”…. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it." There is a lot of truth in this..... and if things seem to get to that stressful and burnout point again, I certainly am not against seeking counseling at any point! Nursing IS stressful but also very rewarding.

Don't rock the boat...is a common thread for many nurses and nursing work environments. Management says they want to have input to make the nursing environment better (what they really want is more productivity for less paid hours on the clock.) And nurses don't want other fellow nurses stirring up the dust too much by sharing their frustrations. Just get through the day, do your job (perfectly) and don't tell me about what you think needs to be fixed or changed. I have been researching burnout for years, both from an experiential perspective (40 years as a nurse) and from a holistic "healing" perspective. To realize the complicity between both nurses and the job situations themselves, is a multi-faceted discussion. How do you talk about burnout with anyone--other nurses, family or friends--without it becoming just a gripe session or getting suggestions like this article's title says to "just relax"? There is a fundamental core issue that relates to nursing burnout and to our so-called health care crises....that is that we are not becoming healthier or "getting well." We need to send ourselves, as nurses, an authentic Get Well card. We can change the nursing profession. And I know for sure that there are nurses who realize this, envision this and long for it to happen.This author is one of these nurses. She offers her insights and tells us that we can change our mindset about how we approach our difficult and sorely needed jobs as nurses. She has discovered a process for transforming nursing burnout, born out her own personal experiences as a nurse who cares.I have looked at her offerings and found that we share common views on how to help nurses with burnout. It gives me hope to find such a kindred spirit. And I know there are many more of us out there, and I hope some of you will post your perspectives here. Burnout is becoming a cliche, and we are supposed to couch it in different words like compassion fatigue, almost in a kind of denial that it is still happening. Nurses are not supposed to burn out, they have been trained to be professionals who get the job done. And now, with the economic times so unnerving for many people, nurses are feeling even more stuck in jobs that they fear they cannot leave or "rock the boat" in any way. It is a documented fact that burned out, stressed out and overwhelmed nurses contribute to a less than helpful, and sometimes out right dangerous, health care environment for patients. Nursing burnout affects us all, whether we are immersed in it or not. We need to welcome all the voices talking about it.

What jumped out at me from this article was the importance of comfortable shoes - surely that would help. Self-care!

ginnymerc! ahahaa!

I could have written the first few paragraphs of this article about my self a year and a half ago. Prior to that, I too had been told by my MD to just relax. I finally realized when I was crying at work every day that I could no longer " care on demand". Seek whatever help is available to you and if you need meds take them. I was off work for 7 weeks- to heal. Now a year and some later- I feel like a new person. I go to work- do my job and come home. I am no longer in charge at work and only work the days that I have to. I always saw myself as being able to do whatever was asked of me and if no one else would do something- I would take care of it. I'm still a little that way, but have learned that I can't fix everyone else's problems. I actually enjoy going to work. Nurse take care of yourself first. Do what they always tell you on the airplane- put your own o2 mask on first and then take care of others!

Deeperwell, thank you for the validation and your understanding ! We seem to resonate, and the more we stifle the stigma that we are supposed to "suck it up", the better off we will all be! to you too!

jrbl77! I love your airplane analogy! It seems as though you were driven to the point of having to look inward in order to survive! We need to remember exactly what it is that you are suggesting...that sometimes taking care of ourselves is not selfish in a negative sense, it is necessary. You Rock!