Keeping the Balance

underpaidrn · Oct 23, 2007

This is a problem only you can correct. You have voluntarily signed up for extra work at the hospital. What about your home life is bothering you that you don't want to be there? Take a hard look at your life and how you are handling it. There are reasons for your actions. Is it the money? It's easy to say no when you have a good home life. I don't normally work overtime because I have a wonderful husband at home waiting for me. I love to spend time with him. The girls are grown and on their own, so it's just the two of us. Work is important, but you need to maintain a healthy balance between work and play. Like I said, only you can correct this problem. I wish you the very best of luck and hope that you achieve the balance you need. Be kind to yourself, too.

oramar · Oct 23, 2007

Hi all! I've been an LPN for about 6 months, I work at a hospital on a busy medical telemetry unit. I'm having a really hard time balancing my personal life and my professional life. I find myself at work more often than I'm at home, by choice. I'm constantly signing up for loads of overtime am losing touch with all of my friends outside of the hospital, my family thinks I'm dead lol, I haven't been been keeping up with any of my hobbies and interests, my life is litterally revolving around my job. I've always been a workaholic but it's getting out of hand now. Anyone been in a similar circumstance? Any tips on how to take back control and say no and balance one's work life from their personal life?

Newer nurses frequently sign up for tons of overtime, sometimes they are good souls that can't say no, other times they need the money. In every case they run into difficulties of one sort or another usually sooner rather than later. My nephew has been an LPN for about year and a half now. He has been doing the same thing you are doing. I am concerned about him but he is a strong guy and seems to be handling it. Please take care of your self. Watch for the signs of burn out. Sleeping difficulties, irritability, withdrawl from the world and increase in mistakes are the signs. People who remain in nursing for long time are usually are able to find a balance by knowing when to say NO. Here's hoping you can find your balance. Good luck and best wishes.

RosalindRN · Oct 24, 2007

I use to be harassed almost daily to come in to help out b/c my unit was understaffed. I was losing my mind and I would bring that frustration with me to work and it would affect how I treated my patients. I also took it out on my family that would call me on my only day off while I was asleep (night shift). You dont want to go there, its horrible. Stop feeling guilty and stop answering the phone. I took my cellphone out of the phone book at work so I could only be reached at home. On my days off I made plans so that I wouldnt be at home to get the message. Or just let it ring and dont listen to the message. You cant solve all the staffing issues. And if you are going in by choice, I have to say to you what I realized for myself....You cant enjoy that money when youre dead, insane, or have no friends/family to spend it with. Good Luck!

MedicalLPN, LPN · Oct 24, 2007

Thank you all for responding with such good advice. I do need to find a balance, as much as I love nursing I need to have a social life as well. So far I've got some overtime this week, but they've already started asking me to fill in for a few spots in the coming weeks and so far I've said no as difficult as it was lol Thanks again guys!

WickedRedRN, BSN, RN · Oct 24, 2007

It's a hard thing to find balance. Once you have become someone the schedulers know they can get to work OT, its hard to get them to stop. But a few times of saying NO and it will get easier to do. Not only that, your confidence in saying NO will grow.

Saying no is not a major thing, but we as nurturing people have a difficult time with that little word.

You need your family, pets, friends, hobbies, homelife, etc to keep you grounded and focused on what's really important in life.

A trick I use: I only give my cell phone number to work, never my home. Cell phone has the caller id and voice mail on it. I can see who is calling, choose not to answer it, and ignore any voice mail I choose. Screening your calls is a beautiful thing. :)