Handling Stress

Hi, Jenny!

We all handle stress differently. I don't know that it's impossible to not take things home with you because they are just stuck in your mind. I think it begins with having good mental health to begin with and a good basis of ethics and morality as well. You are going to see and hear a lot of things. That's a given. Some will bother you, make you cry, make you laugh. You have to have a foundation of ethics and morality upon which to process them. Some things are just going to weigh on your mind. It's one thing to say "be non-judgmental" and another to deal with how you process what you observe mentally in your own private thoughts. I had to quit one job because I just had difficulty dealing with all the patients we had who were victims of assaults (beatings, gunshots, stabbings). I could deal with it non-judgmentally at work, but I have problems understanding how one human can do violence on another and I get physically nauseated when I see the results of it. Yet, I can work around people with the grossest stuff draining out of their body. Go figure. You, too, will find your limits, strengths and weaknesses.

I've seen nurses who fall apart and go ballistic under pressure and others who step forward and lead others through a storm. You won't know what you are like until these challenges present themselves to you. I've worked with nurses that improve their performance under pressure and those that never learn. I feel that a lot depends on the knowledge you acquire and the experience you gain along the way. I've worked with people that become screaming idiots at times of crisis and you just want them to go away. And, then, there are those who are just anchors that you want to hook up to and follow around because you know you are always going to feel safe and secure with them around. A lot depends on your personality. Keep in mind that our own individual behavior is under our control. If you keep an open mind and are willing to listen to criticism and make changes in yourself, you will always be improving. No one is perfect. I'm a big believer in spiritualism. One of the goals of spiritualism is improvement of the self through the learning of lessons. We each have a unique and individual road to travel. Yours may be to discover the boundaries of stress you can tolerate and how to deal with it. You can only know this through challenging yourself and reflecting upon your experiences. Fear will hold you back from making any advancement. If there is anything you will learn about a career in nursing, it is that it will present you with many opportunities to make personal growth that you probably wouldn't get in any other career. Don't waste those opportunities. As my signature says, someone will take the ones you missed.

Welcome to allnurses! :welcome: