Tips for Stress

elkpark · Nov 28, 2015

IMO, the place to start is being sure that you have the basic, obvious, "easy" aspects of stress management well in hand -- staying healthy, getting plenty of physical exercise, eating a healthy diet, getting plenty of sleep. The next "layer" would be having plenty of healthy, supportive relationships outside of work (family, friends, a church community if you are a person of faith). It's also important to have healthy, clear boundaries between work and your "real" life so that you are not "taking your work home with you" and overinvesting emotionally in difficult work situations. Although it's v. exciting and engrossing to be a new graduate starting your first nursing job, esp. in a setting like ICU, it's important to have other interests/hobbies/activities outside of work that are totally separate from your identity as a nurse. You don't want to have nursing and your job become your entire identity as a person.

There are also a variety of practices like meditation, tai chi, yoga, journaling, (and others) that many people find helpful for addressing chronic stress in their lives.

If you're doing all of these things effectively over time and work-related stress seems to still be a problem, you might want to consider some form of therapy/counseling.

The time when you're first starting out in your new career is the ideal time to establish good practices for a health lifestyle going forward, instead of waiting until you've already developed "bad habits" and then trying to change them.

Welcome to allnurses! Best wishes for your journey! :balloons:

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Nov 29, 2015

I concur with elkpark's suggestions and tips.

My stress management tip is to learn how to compartmentalize. Your patients and their families should be placed in one compartment, whereas the people in your personal life go into the other compartment.

Learning to develop professional detachment is of the essence if you wish to remain emotionally healthy. It is possible to care about the outcomes of your patients without becoming emotionally entangled in their lives.