Nursing Without Stress: YOU CAN DO IT! (A Rant)

[Sugarman]

NURSING STUDENTS AND BURNT OUT NURSES TAKE HEART!

Nursing can be stressful. This is because most nurses CHOOSE to take on miserable, life draining, blood pressure raising work. The stress makes them feel like martyrs, or at least heroes. "Somebody has to do it". They are at war with everyone,including themselves, because they have a lot to prove. Mostly, they want to feel and seem important. TO OTHERS. They want a bit more money and so say yes to accepting a miserable life for it. Then they heroically 'brag' about the warzones they have to battle their way through everyday in prisons, O.R.s, E.R.s and LTC's. Yes, it's a soul-draining game that you never win trying to be top-dog in a world where no one is willing to give you any credit.

But here's the good news: Life can be fun! Nursing can be fun! It is completely possible to live the life you deserve, stress free, IF YOU CHOOSE IT. If you are a student nurse, or if you are a veteran nurse, don't be discouraged by the misery and dissatisfaction you see in the eyes of your peers. Take a job doing midnight shift, one on one home care. Get paid average American income to do close to nothing. Watch movies, read novels, paint watercolors and write letters to your friends. Don't feel guilty about it. You are still doing good work. Let some other sucker stress his brains out for his paycheck and have no joy at the end of their day.

You are different. You are better. You have a life of your own and love to live it. If nursing is your passion and caring for the sick is something that fills you with indescribable satisfaction, you have a huge heart and I salute you. GO FOR IT! If you really don't care about nursing and just want to make some ok money for doing an easy job, that's ok too! LPN's are needed in that capacity too. Work on cruise ships, work at rock concerts, work at a snowboarding camp, be a nurse in an art school and get free classes.

I can't count the amount of times I heard the phrase "Nurses eat their young" in nursing school. It was uttered by miserable old bags trying to justify their hatred for youth and happiness almost everyday. It was a warning of what to expect if you chose to deal too closely with these women for long periods of time. Nurses DO eat their young. The whole world seems to be set up to suck the very life out of you. Maintain your hapiness at all costs and if you're feeling stressed out, GET INTO A DIFFERENT FIELD. "There are no easy jobs in nursing" is what you'll read on this board quite a bit by those who have accepted strife as the soup du jour. It's simply not true. There are fun jobs in nursing, they just dont want fun. For themselves or anyone else. Be brave. ENJOY YOUR LIFE.

[Katie5]

Oh la la, now that was a vent! Yup, I hear some seasoned nurses talk about nursing with long faces and I'm there thinking, "Mam, pls what ARE you talking about?

It's all in the mind. Sure there are down days but truly everything is in the mind. The mind is where it begins. Pls some more "venting" I could get used to this.

[makes needs known]

I'm always upbeat at the beginning of my shift. Hopeful that I will be able to accomplish everything. We all work hard but there are too many demands and problems that arise. And that causes stress. Long Term Care nursing is busy, and we need more staff then the meager amount of staff they insist on allotting us. I go home feeling drained.

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

Minus the economy right now.....and how difficult it is to find another job...this post is true.

[Sugarman]

I don't like to work with other people. It's that simple. I like to hang out and have fun with people, but I have to work alone. It's simply too much stress having to count on the same cast of characters showing up late and making excuses everyday. Since trying to control their behavior is impossible and will only result in massive stress, give me the life of a lone wolf. I'll be responsible for me and my patient and everyone else can suck eggs. This philosophy makes my life so much easier.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

I don't like to work with other people. It's that simple. I like to hang out and have fun with people, but I have to work alone. It's simply too much stress having to count on the same cast of characters showing up late and making excuses everyday. Since trying to control their behavior is impossible and will only result in massive stress, give me the life of a lone wolf. I'll be responsible for me and my patient and everyone else can suck eggs. This philosophy makes my life so much easier.

it does, doesnt it......

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

It's great you found something that works for you, but your description of bedside nursing doesn't have much to do with my experience of it. I do experience some stress. I experienced a lot, when I was newer, but I chose to stick with it, not because I like stress and not even really to prove anything, but just because I thought I was learning things and might have less stress when I knew more.

My experience, long before nursing, has been that there's good stress and bad stress. When you're working hard to stay on top of things, you feel like you are accomplishing something. When you're bailing out the Titanic by the tablespoonful, yeah, that'll grind you down. Time to look for a lifeboat.

Nursing in general isn't for everyone. Which is good, because if everybody was a nurse, it would be pretty hard to get a tire changed. ( I can change a tire. If I really need to, I can mount a tire. But I'd be hard-pressed to make a tire.)

And it's abundantly true that some people are happier in other areas of nursing than at the bedside. But doing what I do doesn't make me a sucker. I'm just a nurse, which works out rather nicely, since that's just what I want to be.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Great post, Mike.

I agree that the OP's statements may be true for some people, but probably not the majority. There is nothing wrong with coming somewhere safe (like Allnurses) to gripe and vent about your job. That does not make you a martyr for staying with it. Every job has days when you want to throw up your hands and quit (I'm having one of those myself), this is not exclusive to nursing. Ever noticed how nurses will advise people to never be a nurse? I find the same to be true for lawyers, mechanics, doctors, teachers, etc.

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

Op you are right on ! I just recently went to parttime nursing due to stress, now that I work less I feel much better.

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

With wellness advice from my teachers, it just goes in one ear and out the other ear. It can be hard to take time for myself because I'm worried about so many things right now. Thanks for this post to remind me to take some time for numero uno. I always try to do that.

[Bella'sMyBaby]

NURSING STUDENTS AND BURNT OUT NURSES TAKE HEART!

Nursing can be stressful. This is because most nurses CHOOSE to take on miserable, life draining, blood pressure raising work. The stress makes them feel like martyrs, or at least heroes. "Somebody has to do it". They are at war with everyone,including themselves, because they have a lot to prove. Mostly, they want to feel and seem important. TO OTHERS. They want a bit more money and so say yes to accepting a miserable life for it. Then they heroically 'brag' about the warzones they have to battle their way through everyday in prisons, O.R.s, E.R.s and LTC's. Yes, it's a soul-draining game that you never win trying to be top-dog in a world where no one is willing to give you any credit.

But here's the good news: Life can be fun! Nursing can be fun! It is completely possible to live the life you deserve, stress free, IF YOU CHOOSE IT. If you are a student nurse, or if you are a veteran nurse, don't be discouraged by the misery and dissatisfaction you see in the eyes of your peers. Take a job doing midnight shift, one on one home care. Get paid average American income to do close to nothing. Watch movies, read novels, paint watercolors and write letters to your friends. Don't feel guilty about it. You are still doing good work. Let some other sucker stress his brains out for his paycheck and have no joy at the end of their day.

You are different. You are better. You have a life of your own and love to live it. If nursing is your passion and caring for the sick is something that fills you with indescribable satisfaction, you have a huge heart and I salute you. GO FOR IT! If you really don't care about nursing and just want to make some ok money for doing an easy job, that's ok too! LPN's are needed in that capacity too. Work on cruise ships, work at rock concerts, work at a snowboarding camp, be a nurse in an art school and get free classes.

I can't count the amount of times I heard the phrase "Nurses eat their young" in nursing school. It was uttered by miserable old bags trying to justify their hatred for youth and happiness almost everyday. It was a warning of what to expect if you chose to deal too closely with these women for long periods of time. Nurses DO eat their young. The whole world seems to be set up to suck the very life out of you. Maintain your hapiness at all costs and if you're feeling stressed out, GET INTO A DIFFERENT FIELD. "There are no easy jobs in nursing" is what you'll read on this board quite a bit by those who have accepted strife as the soup du jour. It's simply not true. There are fun jobs in nursing, they just dont want fun. For themselves or anyone else. Be brave. ENJOY YOUR LIFE.

Whatever you're on.......I'd like some too!!!! LOL!!!!