Healthier Living Thread Part IV

Nurses Stress 101

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Nurses Month 2024 | Discounts & Freebies AORN Celebrates Nurses Month

Part IV

This is the thread where members come to share their journey to wellness and wholeness.

It's a holistic thread, talking about all apects of health, not just diet and exercise, but the mind and spirit as well. All posters are welcome (not just Premium Members) and encouraged on a periodic basis to share what you're doing, what you need to do and how you're going to do it, and what you know!

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Hello Everyone,

I am enjoying reading your posts......

Heres me...stopped smoking four weeks ago.....still not happy about it, but do feel better...find I enjoy breathing.....lol

Now am working on the weight......joined curves and have a treadmill.

I live out in the country, and that is for my mental health, watching the deer wander by, and watching the bats at night.

Welcome, so nice to meet you! 14 mos. smoke free for me, and I don't like it ALL the time - but it's much better. Congratulations! and on your other healthy habits -

and out in the country - "watching the bats" - lol - enjoy! :)

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Specializes in icu,ccu, er, corrections.

Zoe,

I didn't know what they were at first, then my dh pointed out that they are bats, so now have a bat house that I can't wait to get put up. I love my bats, they eat the mosquitos....lol

TY for the welcome, and congrats on the 14mos smoke free.....I'm still making a decision to not smoke on a day to day basis....although is getting much easier

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

ertravelrn, kudos on the not smoking. I hope you continue to stick around and share with us often on this thread. That one-day-at-a-time thing worked for me. At first I couldn't say "I quit smoking", that was a bit much to say. Sometimes I had to break it down in even smaller incriments "I won't smoke until after lunch." By lunch the feeling passed. It helped me to get through those bad moments because they always passed. I knew that even one puff would be the end. I decided I would never go back to smoking if I avoided that one puff. Because one puff lead to a whole ciggarette which lead to a pack which lead to a carton and I was back to square one.

I love love love love being a nonsmoker. I tried for probably seven years to quit unsuccessfully. I missed it at first, and I hated the withdrawals, the obession, the weight gain, hated it all. But I promised myself to avoid that one puff at all costs. 20 years smoke free for me.

I'm not sure if I'm going to do any exercise today. I may exercise the dogs by taking them to the park since it's a lovely spring day here in Florida.

Zoe, congrats on the 14 months!!!! I didn't realize it was so long!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Welcome, Etravelrn! Congrats on your progress as a new-non-smoker! 25 years in Aug. for me! Personally I think it is like being an alcoholic. It is VERY VERY RARE for me to want to smoke now, but about once a year if I am under a lot of stress and am near someone lighting up and we are outside, I think "hey, I remember that....". Then it passes and I'm fine. Knowing that helps me be more prepared for the next time the fleeting urge comes along. I almost re-started once, thought I was going to throw up, and that helps the urge pass too. And I was a 2 pack a day Marlboro girl!

Tweety & Zoe - Congrats to you guys too! Didn't know you were in the former smoker club!

I am feeling SOOOOOO much better! Still a little nasal congestion but lots more energy and feel fine overall otherwise. Think I will give Curves a rest for one more day to be sure, don't need to stir things up any. Have been eating good, no weight gain which is nice!

Have a good rest of your weekend, everyone!

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
...sometimes i had to break it down in even smaller incriments "i won't smoke until after lunch."

yep, that helps me too.

...zoe, congrats on the 14 months!!!! i didn't realize it was so long!

yep :) cool, huh? and it's passed so quickly!

welcome, etravelrn! congrats on your progress as a new-non-smoker! 25 years in aug. for me! personally i think it is like being an alcoholic. it is very very rare for me to want to smoke now, but about once a year if i am under a lot of stress and am near someone lighting up and we are outside, i think "hey, i remember that....".

what i find myself doing is regretting having stopped (which is really stupid), and then i thank god for helping me stop. what is it they say, "one is too many, a thousand are not enough"?

i am feeling soooooo much better!

that's another thing, when i get sick, i remind myself how much sicker i would be if i was still a smoker !

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Specializes in icu,ccu, er, corrections.

Congrats to all you that have quit and stayed off the cigarettes for so long. Right now I can't think past a day at a time. If I thought I could never smoke again, I would probably start again. So, for now one day at a time. 25 years, 20 years.......that is so awesome. I can't wait until I can say it has been a year, let alone that many. I had bronchitis that wouldn't go away, shob, having to use inhalers.....knew I didn't want to have to do that the rest of my life.......

I have to start back at curves this week, finally over the bronchitis and feel like I might can do something.

Besides the bats and deer, we live near the river, and I love to take my dogs walking there. They love playing in the water and is good exercise for me.

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Congrats to all you that have quit and stayed off the cigarettes for so long. Right now I can't think past a day at a time. If I thought I could never smoke again, I would probably start again. So, for now one day at a time. 25 years, 20 years.......that is so awesome. I can't wait until I can say it has been a year, let alone that many. I had bronchitis that wouldn't go away, shob, having to use inhalers.....knew I didn't want to have to do that the rest of my life.......

I have to start back at curves this week, finally over the bronchitis and feel like I might can do something.

Besides the bats and deer, we live near the river, and I love to take my dogs walking there. They love playing in the water and is good exercise for me.

I was just thinking of you (sort of, lol) because I slept for about an hour and when I woke up, I thought, now if I only had the sound of crickets, and the smell of open air - and that's when I thought of you (sort of) - lol

I think you are doing awesome! I have had bronchitis before so bad that it felt like there were sharp knives cutting up and down my airway when I coughed - but I smoked anyway - stupid... as to the inhalers, I hadn't started with them yet, but I did have the wheezing when I laid down to go to sleep. I couldn't sleep til I coughed and deep breathed the wheeze away, and sometimes I couldn't :(

I wouldn't recommend my way of quitting (I was in a hospital where I COULDN'T smoke...) but I had told God he'd have to rip them out of my hands this time ... so that's what happened (chuckle)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Zoe, sometimes it takes what it takes.

ER, best wishes one day at a time. That's hour I got 20 years, I just didn't smoke one-day-at-a-time and the days added up. I agree with the approach that you can't say "I quit forever". Hang in there and put off taking that one puff.

Today I'm up early and going to the gym here in a minute as I have some reading for school to get done. I made some very good curried rice and beans using chickpeas and red kidney beans. Had spinach on the side. Way too healthy eh?

My BP readings these last few weeks have been good. 120's over 70s/80s. No weight loss, but no gain either. :)

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Specializes in NICU.
Hey Sarah! Are you going to be getting some of that nasty weather tomorrow? (I'm a weather channel addict....). Hope you get spring soon! How is your recovery from all that wind damage coming along? Do you have clinicals this weekend?

We were so lucky because we got the rain, but we got it overnight on Saturday night, and both Saturday and Sunday was beautiful! We are coming along good with the wind damage. I went to a livestock auction with my hubby on Saturday and they had an outside "junk" sale going on as well. Well, lucky me, I found a brand new screen door (one thing we had lost in the wind) for $5.00 - WooHoo!!! Also a really nice security/storm door (heavy iron) for $10.00. Yeay! I love auctions. Oh - we picked up a steer while we were there too - he is frolicking among the hay bales - hehe.

Nope, no clinicals, I have them next weekend, but this one I was off and as much as I love them, I really needed a break. :)

Well, I was good this weekend. Stuck to my diet - WooHoo! I did have a Hershey's bar with almonds on Saturday, but I stuck it into my diet calculations so it was ok and I don't even feel guilty about it. :D

This morning I had some guacamole and cheese - yum. :)

How is everybody doing? It's busy at my office this morning.

Have a great day everyone and hi to all!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Sounds good Sarah!! I hope you enjoy the break.

I was eating a small salad and was going to make some pasta last night but got involved in listening to a power point lecture and forgot to cook before bowling. So I splurged and had grilled cheese and fries at the bowling alley. Must have been a Fruedian slip that I lost track of time like that. :)

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Good Morning healthy livers. I'm feeling great, I have to go to work today and I'm bring my own food... smoked salmon with red bell peppers, and Trader Joe bread, plus creme cheese and cilantro. Yum. See ya later!

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Specializes in NICU.

LOL Tweety - apparently your body just plain 'ol needed the grilled cheese and fries. :D Yummy!

We are out of about everything - I have got to go to town and get some groceries quick! I was watching carbs yesterday, but I didn't eat healthy because of a complete lack of veggies! So, I had a bowl of ground hamburger with hot-sauce and olives on it for supper. Uh . . . not good. I'm going to try to find some time somewhere today to stop by the grocery store and get some essentials.

Good morning Garden Dove - that sounds absolutely fabulous - enjoy it!

Good morning to everybody - hope the healthy day is going well!

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