K1212

I remember watching a video in school about Vietnam nurses. These were beautiful, thin, perky young women. But when you saw them interviewed in their 40s, they were fat, overly wrinkled, and kind of ugly. Beautiful on the inside, but it looked like nursing had let ALL of them age horribly! I see that most of the middle-aged nurses where I work are also unhealthy looking. And their mental health seems cranky, too. Studies show that stress has a HUGE negative impact on every aspect of our lives. Take time to care for yourself. People who care for others often do so to make up for lack of self-love. It's sort of a downward spiral, because the more you move away from your "ideal" self, the harder it becomes to accept yourself for who you are. Stop trying to be a perfect nurse, stop defining yourself as an overworked nurse, stop trying so hard to please everyone else. Take your lunch breaks and laugh a lot. Don't let the system suck your soul dry. And to all the nurses who like to hate on their patients about being drug addicts... well, I wish someone would give you a taste of your own medicine, because food addiction is just as destructive (with the exception that it has less stigma attached and thus isn't as detrimental to personal relationships). Addiction to television, the internet (so guilty), validation from men, etc. Addiction is just a way to mask the pain/uneasiness/emptiness that one experiences on a daily basis... Makes sense why nurses turn to unhealthy habits.