I was walking down a hall with a nurse that I've worked with off and on for a few years and she told me, "Did you get called in yesterday? I called in, I wasn't really sick but... Oh my god I just couldn't come in and had to take a day for myself! I spent the whole day at the gym... A mental health day, you know what I mean... Do you ever get like that?"
hmmmm I guess the answer would have to be YES!!! What I do is to get on here and vent! Okay seriously, Of course I enjoy my patients and they give me a great deal of satisfaction but I think it is important to reward ourselves too... Even if all you can afford to do, (moneywise/timewise), is to stop by Godiva and buy yourself one piece of chocolate for $5 bucks that you take to your car and eat yourself while you think, "I'm worth it, I deserve it and this is my reward!" Then that's what you should do! As nurses we are always thinking about everyone else and we tend to forget ourselves... Remember to reward you! Okay, now it's time for me to get offline and go pick up my new 1912 arts and crafts library table that I am going to use for my computer, I was just able to get it out of lay-a-way after two months, MY REWARD!!! but now where will I sit my coffee....hmmmm
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
A nice mocha latte, a great book, classical music......all that is reward enuf for me...and a relatively rare treat for a part time nurse and mom to two busy kids, not to mention military wife. that and positive self-affirmation.....these are how i reward myself. oh, and i work out at the gym 4 days a week, but not as a reward but out of necessity! :-)
I have massively pedestrian taste, so a trip to any consumer store will make it happen for me. When I stay on the stairmaster, for 25:00, on the rollercoaster mode, set on level 7, and stay on the whole time without using my arms to hold on, my heart gives a reward. Taking the bike to school is a reward, because it's all down hill coming home.
I just rewarded my taste buds with a big ol' fresh hot out of the oven Cinnabon from the food court in our shopping mall on base. Mmmmmmmmmm....good! Dee-li-cious to the last drop! Now, the calories might not look real good on me, but that was a heck of a reward to enjoy for the moment! Excuse me pleez, I think I hear my arteries coughing... :chuckle
Why do we need to reward ourselves for doing a job we are getting paid for?
Are you for real? You don't have any little indulgences that make you feel special? I would find that very hard to believe. That would make you almost drone-like. "Go to work, get paid, go to work, get paid..."
You don't need a pat on the back or some other gesture to make yourself feel good every once and awhile? I would argue that is a basic need of every single human being on this Earth.
:chuckle
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
A nice mocha latte, a great book, classical music......all that is reward enuf for me...and a relatively rare treat for a part time nurse and mom to two busy kids, not to mention military wife. that and positive self-affirmation.....these are how i reward myself. oh, and i work out at the gym 4 days a week, but not as a reward but out of necessity! :-)