What tricks do you use to make your day more bearable?

[LilyBlue]

Y'all probably are going to think I'm insane, but I have to play little mindgames with myself to bear my work environment.

The first one I do is the percentage game. I make sure to note when I'm 25% done my shift, 50% done my shift, 75% done my shift, etc. For some reason, it makes me feel so much better than "I have nine hours left".

In order to deal with terribly rude and nasty patients and family members, I pretend I'm acting in a movie script. I'm the role of a person who is extremely kind and gracious. In this movie, nothing angers me or makes me feel like crap. The better I act like nothing bothers me and remain gracious, the more money I will make for my movie. LMAO.

I know you all definitely think I'm crazy now (and yes, I do have a plan to get out of bedside nursing, hopefully within the next two years) but these tactics really do help me sometimes.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

I love my job so it is not a matter of getting through it....but when i am tired or a little cranky...i use the halfway mark trick.....I get halfway through and then treat myself to a nice cup of coffee and try not to answer any pages while i sip it and rejuvenate

[Schmoo1022]

I have my hourly pay broken down into minutes. So on the really bad days, I can say "Hey, I just got paid xx to put up w/ xyz". It works for me :)

LOL... This I do. It makes it more tolerable for me.

[chicookie, BSN, RN]

When in doubt, dance it out.

I go to the restroom and do a silly dance, or on the way out the patient room where no one can see me. =D

I laugh at myself and it seems to be working puts me in a better mood. You would be amazed at all the little kid songs that put a smile on your face.

I did get caught once.......

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

Well I'm a student who works full time( for now atleast) and sometimes I pull 16 hour days between going to work and school and studying. Each day I have to pray and read my bible, when things get tough I keep telling myself that I'm grateful to even have a job at this time, and I'll be a nurse before I know it. I cant lie and say I never get stressed, but when I think about where I was a year ago, I rather be no other place. I'm a student nurse soon to be nurse in 5 months, I have a great job( yes stressful working and school, but atleast I have a job), and I have so many other things to be grateful for.

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

I just think how lucky I am to have a job.... Esp after looking on the internet and seeing only 3 hospital nursing jobs between the 2 largest hospitals in my area....

[Medic2RN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

LilyBlue, I love your movie script idea, I'm going to try that.

Normally, I'll break my pay down and repeat, "That which does not kill me, makes me stronger......"

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Taking lunch late in the shift helps me (for those of you lucky enought to get a lunch!) By the time lunch rolls around my day is almost done.

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

Working nights, sometimes you have absolutely horrible shifts....I always tell myself that A)people would be thankful to have work. B)My girlfriend always tells me that I am a wonderful nurse, and she sees that in the way I live my life. C)that no matter what is happening, I'm not the patient in the bed, and I cannot control how others respond to me.

Of course, it's easier to deal with on payday, but still.....

[JB2007, ASN, RN]

I think to myself, one day I will win that lottery and I will only work when I want to work. When I am walking down the hall smiling on a horrible day that is what I am telling myself over and over again. Even if it never comes true the dream keeps me happy.

When one of my residents or residents family members are yelling about something that is out of my control I think of all the things that I would like to say to them. If they are really getting on my last nerve I think of squeezing their heads until they pop like a big zit. Do not judge me I have some messed up families on my hall right now and I think they are rubbing off on me.

[RNperdiem, RN]

I always have good food to look forward to for lunch and my favorite CDs in my car for the trip home.

"Just one day and I don't come to work tomorrow" sometimes helps.

Everyone has bad days sometimes. The really unlucky have them all the time.

[Jean1313]

I used to work with a nurse named Maggie. She was a strong personality, and had a tendency to make new nurses (and some new residents!) cry. We started working a lot of shifts together, and I would always sing a few lines from "Maggie May" when I saw her. She always smiled, and it set a good tone for the night.

In the end, she was one of my favorite coworkers :-)

[buddiage]

We pull little pranks on other nurses or joke (flicking a rubber band at them, an occasional flush squirt to the back side or even a flatus in the med room)...or accusing a coworker of something totally fabricated and acting serious... Sometimes if we have a patient that is at the counter (say, like the obnoxious one last night who had asked nurses to show him their boobs or other inappropriate sexual and rude comments) then we open up Microsoft Word on the computer (because they can't see it) and type in 'he wants to marry you' or other goofy things. We bring in food too, which helps. :-) If nights are hard, stuff like this makes us love our job still.