...Then you let it go. That's how you take care of yourself...

mustlovepoodles, RN · Mar 8, 2010

It's great advice and it's hard to learn to put it into motion. We are care-takers by nature, most of us. It's the main reason we're in nursing. But we each have to find a way to let work stay at work, for our own mental health. Nothing good will be accomplished by perseverating on what we did or didn't do. You can't change history. All you can to is work at the best of your ability AT THE TIME, and then let it go. If repetitive thoughts are plaguing you, you have to take control of them. Vow to mull over the thoughts at a specific time, NOT NOW. Then at a later time, only once a day, take your thoughts out and let them flow--for 15 minutes. Then pack them up again,and refuse to entertain them until tomorrow. Most of those repetitive thoughts aren't very productive. I write them down so I can refer to them later. Usually, by the time I get to "worry time" those thoughts are no longer bothering me. Think of all the time I could have wasted worrying about something that ultimately was no longer important to me!

It takes some time to learn to compartmentalize. But work is work, and home is home. If you're spending 40 hours/week at work, then you should be spending 128 hours/week doing something else. If you insist on taking work home night after night you need to know that there is a cost to being out of balance. The price is your well-being and that of the people around you.

:nurse: Cathy--32+years, one bad case of burnout, recovered and going strong.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 8, 2010

I give myself the drive home to mull over my work day and anything that I'm having a hard time letting go of...then once I'm at my destination, I consciously try not to think about work.

Am I always successful? Hell no: it was hard to learn to let go in the beginning, especially when I saw something really disturbing at work. And sometimes, try as hard as I may to not think about my day, I end up having dreams about it. But overall, it does get a little easier each day to leave work at work.

mustlovepoodles, RN · Mar 9, 2010

sometimes, try as hard as I may to not think about my day, I end up having dreams about it. But overall, it does get a little easier each day to leave work at work.

This made me remember a dream I had about 32 years ago. I was in my first job working L&D, probably my first 6 months out of school. Once night we had an unusually high number of deliveries and I didn't sit down for the entire 8 hours. I went home and just fell into bed, clothes and all. I had a dream that I was in the delivery room, sitting at the foot of the table delivering Toyotas and baby gorillas, one after another. Now that's a rough night!