Nursing,"Who you are"? or "What you do"?

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Nursing can be stressful,[duh].

I think what adds to this stress is personalizing what happens to us at work. For many of us nursing is "who we are",our identities are caught up in our roles as nurses,as opposed to nursing being "what we do" to make a living,to survive,or to have a reasonable way of life.

If nursing is "who you are",then things that dont go our way,or failures or having a bad day will be a personal affront to our identities.If nursing is "what you do" then you can be more detached,not so wraped up in events and in the end,this will probably make us better nurses.

I think knowing the difference can help us cope,decrease burn out and wanting to tell our employer to "take this job and shove it"

And of course there are events,unethical practices,unethical occurances that should not be tolerated. I know we can all judge the differences.

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Both . . . and neither.

Depends on the day.

And my mood.

steph

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I'm with steph on this one. It's both......and depending on the circumstances, sometimes neither!

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Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

What I DO....... while allowing "who I am" to shine through "what I do".

Works best for me. :)

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I'm pretty good at letting nursing be what I do not who I am. It's part of the total package of me. Just as being gay, being male, being caucasian, being 44 year old, etc. is collectively who I am, but no one thing is exclusively me. Am I making sense?

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Too philosophical for me. Where's Waldo?:confused:

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho.

When im home its what i do, when im at work its who i am. You have to be able to make the distinction and separate the two somewhat or it leads to total burn out. I have spent to many hours after i left work wondering if,, did i forget that,, i finally learned to leave it there and pass it on. Other than this board i mean,, LOL,, but then my puter time is my time.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Good grief, it's not rocket science.

Nursing is NOT who I am.....it's a BIG part of who I am.....

but then what I DO defines who I am, does it not? the good and bad......

but nursing is just PART of what I do.....and who I am.

I am complicated, like most humans...I carefully avoid letting anyone ONE thing define who I am...or guide the decisions I make and that WOULD include NURSING.:kiss

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Specializes in MedSurg, LTC.

I flip-flop back and forth it seems. If I realize that I'm taking it all too seriously (what I am) and realize that it's more a job (what I do) I go more with the flow and am way more relaxed. If I screw something up (and it doesn't have to be anything major) when I'm taking it seriously and thinking I have to strive to be super-nurse it really devastates me. I don't have to make everything/everybody all perfectly right. I follow the orders, do the job, do the best I can, monitor and report. I don't have to make the touchdown that saves the game all I have to do is gain a few yards at a time.

Well, that will all probably change tomorrow

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Thank you for your thoughtful replies to this probing question.

I would like to articulate nursing as "who we are". By this I mean we need to justify our existence,"who we are" through our achievements as nurses.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
Originally posted by ohbet

Thank you for your thoughtful replies to this probing question.

I would like to articulate nursing as "who we are". By this I mean we need to justify our existence,"who we are" through our achievements as nurses.

This is very common in our society. That we have to "prove" ourselves by our achievements. It starts very early in school and continues through high school. Those who achieve more academically and careerwise are held in higher esteem than those who don't.

Men in particular like to define themselves by their career achievements, climbing up the ladder etc.

Growing up with an Army Officer dad I've always felt the pressure to define myself by achievements. But have had to let go of all that stuff.

I am what I am, not what I do. Obviously though what I am reflects in what I do.

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Originally posted by jnette

What I DO....... while allowing "who I am" to shine through "what I do".

Works best for me. :)

This says it.:D

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