April 28, 2025 • 40 mins
Hi!! I would love to hear from you!
What happens when a nurse with 40 years of experience decides to tackle the healthcare burnout crisis head-on? Barbara Anderson's journey from bedside nurse to healthcare consultant to holistic coach offers powerful insights for anyone struggling to find balance in a caregiving profession.
Barbara introduces us to the concept of being a "pivot person" – someone who embraces change and seeks new challenges throughout their career. Her own path took her from home care to leadership roles to traveling healthcare consultant, ultimately leading to her coaching practice, Simply Harmony Coaching. Through each transition, she gained deeper understanding of the healthcare system and the toll it takes on those working within it.
At the heart of Barbara's approach is a revolutionary yet simple truth: healthcare workers pour themselves into caring for others while neglecting their own wellbeing. "We take care of everybody else, we're empathetic, we're compassionate, and don't always look at ourselves and what we need," she explains. This insight forms the foundation of her coaching practice, where she creates sacred spaces for healthcare professionals to reconnect with themselves.
Our conversation explores practical tools for building resilience, including the three pillars Barbara identifies as essential: self-compassion, self-reflection, and self-care. She offers actionable advice for developing intuition, processing emotions, and balancing masculine and feminine energies within ourselves. Whether through journaling, meditation, or simply stepping outside to connect with nature, Barbara emphasizes that small self-care practices can create profound shifts in our wellbeing.
Ready to discover your own path to harmony? Connect with Barbara at SimplyHarmonyCoaching.com or join her Feminine Rising Circle to experience the power of community in your journey toward balance and joy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of
Empowered Ease.
I'm Jen Olinger and today wehave a truly inspiring guest
whose life journey andprofessional achievements embody
exactly what this podcast isall about empowerment,
transformation and findingharmony in all of life's
transitions.
Joining us is Barbara Anderson,an extraordinary registered
(00:25):
nurse with over 40 years ofdiverse experience in healthcare
.
Barbara holds both bachelor'sand master's degrees in
management and leadership.
She's a certified executive andlife coach with a deeply rooted
understanding of healthcareleadership and the challenges
faced by healthcare workersrooted understanding of
healthcare leadership and thechallenges faced by healthcare
workers.
In the last decade, barbara hasexpanded her reach.
(00:48):
Becoming a traveling healthcareconsultant, she has effectively
guided physicians and nursestowards clinical documentation,
excellence and performanceimprovements, while gaining a
unique perspective of thecurrent challenges facing the
healthcare field.
Barbara is not onlyprofessionally accomplished, but
personally she has embarked ona journey of exploring emotion,
(01:11):
energy and holistic approachesto life and health.
This led her to establishingSimply Harmony Coaching, a
business dedicated to helpinghealthcare professionals, and
particularly women, discover joyand meaning in their lives.
Barbara's vision as a coach isto empower individuals With a
focus on life transitions.
(01:33):
She attributes much of her owngrowth to maintaining a curious
and open mindset through her owntransitions and challenges,
like navigating divorce whileraising two children.
Today, she continues to providethat sacred space for
transformation, helping othersfind their own answers and
achieve a balanced lifeincorporating mind, body and
(01:55):
spirit.
So, without further ado, let'sdive into a conversation with
Barbara Anderson and learn moreabout her journey and insights.
Welcome to Empowered Ease,barbara.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Great Thanks, Jen.
I really appreciate thisopportunity to talk with you.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, I'm way excited .
It sounds like you've been inhealthcare a long time, so I'm
really excited to hear aboutthat.
I'm loving your coachingprogram and the focus on
transitions, so I gave like apretty good little intro there.
But so why don't let's hearfrom your perspective, kind of
what you're, what you're up toand what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, as you said, after a lot of experience in
nursing roles, but I was a pivotperson long before that was
popular and I've had wonderfuldifferent experiences in nursing
and the last 10 years was as ahealthcare consultant.
So I was working withphysicians and nurses across the
country and even a little stintin Canada with physicians and
(03:04):
nurses around documentation,even a little stint in Canada
with physicians and nursesaround documentation.
But I could see and hear.
You know, the issues are allthe same.
The healthcare system is broken, as we know, and people are
really challenged and it'sespecially falling on nurses and
all healthcare workers reallyholding things up while
hopefully we figure out ourhealth system and take it to a
(03:26):
better place.
But with that I realized thatwhat I wanted to do was coaching
, because I remembered when Iwas in home care, the first
start of my career, and I lovebeing in people's homes, working
with them around their healthcare and well-being, and it was
taking the whole picture intoconsideration.
You know their body, mind,spirit, family members, their
(03:50):
issues, their determinants ofhealth.
Before that was a popular termand I realized I wanted to get
back into that.
We're kind of working one-on-onein a sacred space, allowing
them to talk and vent and workthrough.
And what I really figured out is, especially through my career
too, is people really know theirown answers but they a lot of
(04:10):
times don't have a space to talkit through or or focus on.
You know some of the right toolsor you know how to get there in
a in a easier way, and coachingdoes help with that and so way,
and coaching does help withthat and so, and when I got
training as an executive andpersonal coach, I just felt like
(04:32):
I was home because it was justright up my alley.
So and we had talked about this, jen, that you know we do a lot
of coaching in nursing ingeneral, and so really it's been
a long career of working withpeople in that way and just
having those wonderful heartfeltconnections, and with that
people learn and grow and evolveand are empowered.
(04:53):
And that's the beauty ofcoaching and being able to see
those moments when the lightgoes on in a person's head.
And you know it doesn't alwayshappen in the first session, it
might be over several sessions,but there also might be several
times when light bulbs go offand it's just so satisfying to
see that someone's life can beimproved with that.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, I find a lot of my clients have light bulbs
early on and then we spend a lotof the time like trying to
maintain that because you knowlike are trying to figure out
how to how to keep that up.
So I love that.
Now you said something that I'dnever heard before.
But a pivot person what do youmean by a pivot person?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
There's a lot of talk in nursing, especially on
LinkedIn.
I see a lot about pivoting fromthe bedside for nurses, because
a lot of times in the nursingrole you feel that you're not
going to be a nurse, you'regoing to lose skills.
You know, the expectation wouldbe that you stay at the bedside
so you don't lose your skills,so that you have a job, that you
(05:52):
know that sort of thing, but alot of nurses feel stuck there.
And what I found there's somany opportunities in nursing
and to be able to explore themand be open to that.
And you know we may talk alittle bit about this down the
line, but I really believe in agrowth mindset and that's being
curious and being open tolearning and growing, because
that's what feeds us.
(06:12):
I believe, and that definitelyhappens when you pivot roles and
you know I kept looking forwhat worked better for me and
sometimes it worked, you know,for a couple of years and then I
felt like I needed to move onand for me it was interesting
because through the differentpivots I found that I was
(06:33):
starting to take roles inleadership where there was a
change in ownership and thereneeded to be some shifts, and so
they would.
I would take those kind of roles, and so I would be cleaning up
things for a couple of years orstarting new things for a couple
(06:54):
of years, and once they gotinto this balance place, I kind
of got a little bored.
So I was always looking forthese new challenges, and that's
where, finally, I ended up inconsulting, where I could, you
know, do those pivotal roles forone company kind of thing, and
at one I, you know, was sodedicated to do that At one time
(07:15):
I was even traveling from thePacific Northwest to New York
City every week, and thathappened for a year, and now
that about killed me.
I mean, you know it's reallyhard to do your self-care and
take care of your own things inthat way, but I found too that
you find more about a place bykind of living there, and so I
(07:38):
really got into what New YorkCity was all about and
understand it better, and sothat was a benefit as well, to
get to know the people and theplace in a better way.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So do you live in the Pacific Northwest?
Now I do.
Where do you live?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
In the Seattle area.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
In the Seattle area.
Now do you do your coachingvirtually.
For the most part I do you do,virtually I do.
And so I saw you specify inmainly healthcare care workers
and women, health care, womenand health care, and I also saw
this, maybe in leadership.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yes, and I'm really open to anyone because it's
really all.
We have the same needs and thesame tools that we can use.
So it really is the same toolsthat we can use.
So it really is the same.
But I, you know, and my nichereally is nursing and healthcare
workers and especially around,burnout A lot of times it's
better if you, before you burnedout, to start getting some
(08:35):
support and some tools for howto work to avoid that.
But sometimes you're in it andyou're stuck and that's where
coaching can really help andsupport and, you know, that's
where I can step in.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yeah, I love that.
I think I wish it was morepreventative in healthcare.
But the reality is most peopleare, like you know, hip deep in
it.
I've been through it severaltimes before.
We acknowledge as a as a nursemyself, that I'm in burnout.
So I love that and I don'tthink I would have pivoted away
from the bedside.
But I definitely can relatewith like getting bored and
(09:09):
pivoting Like I pivoted likeevery two years to like a
different specialty.
I always stayed in critical carebut it was like a different
critical care specialty and thenat some point I floated to all
critical care specialties andnow I specialize in burnout too.
After burning out so bad andgoing back and doing the job a
totally different way with atotally different mindset, I
(09:29):
still found like this is notdoing what it used to do for me
anymore.
So I accepted my first job inleadership, which I start next
week, which I'm hopeful andexcited about but also a little
nervous that it's going to bedisappointing and what you know
(09:50):
in the way that it's part of thehealthcare system.
So do you have any advice forme as someone like going into
leadership and like a?
It's a very big hospital, thebiggest hospital system in the
area, so like very corporate,big healthcare system.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Well, congratulations for stop, yeah, I, you know, I
think the just be curious andstay open-minded.
And, and another thing is, youknow there really is such a
thing as imposter syndrome andyou feel like when you're going
into something new and I thinkthis is especially true for
nurses, especially ICU nursesyou all you always have known
(10:22):
exactly what you needed to do.
You're coming from a placewhere you're very skilled, very
sharp, you can almost do it inyour sleep, stepping into a
place where it's new and it'sdifferent, and you know there
are things that you'll belearning and that sort of thing.
But give yourself a break, bereally self-compassionate that
you can do this.
You have the skills needed, orthey wouldn't have chosen you.
(10:44):
And just, you know, take it dayby day by day, and before you
know it, a lot of these thingsthat were new become, you know,
older and more, you are moreskilled in them and and you're
bringing your uniqueness of allthese different experiences
you've had and who you are downto the table.
So, watch out, here you come,yeah, and, and you know, listen,
(11:08):
hear everything, use yournursing skills around.
You know what's reallyhappening here, what is the root
cause of this, and and thatsort of thing, to try to
understand it.
And and I've navigated thecorporate world in a lot of
roles and it can be reallydifficult sometimes.
But you know, look for peoplethat support you.
(11:29):
You know, look for mentors thatyou can kind of follow their
path, how they've succeeded.
That sort of thing, mentorshipis really great.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah, that's a great advice.
That's really great advice.
Mentorship was really great.
Yeah, that's a great advice.
That's really great advice.
Um, so when you when you sayyou work with mainly women in
healthcare, could you saythere's like a theme that women
are coming to you to work withyou at a certain point in their
life or with?
Is it mainly burnout or?
Um, what are the kind of peoplethat you're working with?
(12:03):
What do you see most commonly?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, well, I would say for women and this is for
myself also in my growth andjourney is around.
You know, we want to do it all,and so we're caregivers, and
we're especially nurses all andso we're caregivers, and we're
(12:27):
especially nurses around this.
But we take care of everybodyelse, we're empathetic, we're
compassionate and don't alwayslook at ourselves and what we
need to be able to support that.
So we forget that we have totake care of ourselves, because
if we have nothing to give,we're not going to be that
effective working with othersand trying to accomplish our
(12:48):
goals.
Because you know, we're tryingto hold down a job.
We often have familyresponsibilities, might even be
taking care of parents.
At this point, you know, I seekind of different ages, but it's
mostly midlife.
I would say when you startasking those questions more like
(13:08):
what about me?
And you know, what else can Ido to have a more joyful life?
That sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I could see that for sure.
I mean, there's so much thathappens at this age, like
hormonally and then like justyour values are shifting and, as
givers, that gets hard at thisage due with, like, the hormones
at play.
So is there somethingspecifically in your life that
led you on a personal level toget more interested in like the
(13:40):
more holistic aspect of like?
I saw, I think, on your website.
It was talking about like themind body connection and taking
a more holistic approach.
So I'm just wondering whatinspired you to go that route
from being in healthcare for 40years, sure.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
And and I would say I would also go back a minute and
just add that I do work withmen as well, and because they're
also kind of waking up atdifferent times in their lives
to try to find more empowermentthemselves.
And we all have the masculine,feminine energy in us and, you
know, sometimes most of the timewe're out of balance in those,
(14:16):
whether we're female or male.
So working through that, youknow know, can be very similar
for men.
They have different issues butalso can work with them.
What really happened for me andthis happens a lot for women is
, you know, a change in mysituation or where it all kind
of came to a head.
When I went through a divorce, Irealized that I had a couple,
(14:40):
small children, and I wasn'tgetting what I needed as far as
support and something had togive and that had to be it.
And so then going through thatsituation, the grieving of it
that you really don't have timefor because get up and go, you
have to take care of your familyand trying to figure out who I
(15:01):
was after I'd been guided intothis box of marriage really, and
it wasn't the path that Iwanted at that time, at least
with this person and it wasreally challenging because it
was against my religion to get adivorce.
Family didn't really supportthat.
I also was living in Hawaii atthe time and I think that which
(15:24):
is a beautiful place, wonderfulplace, wonderful time in my life
actually being so close tonature and such beauty and all
of that.
But there's a very spiritualcomponent to Hawaii too and I
think that also affected me.
And so there was a lot ofavailability of spiritual paths
to explore, which I did, tookintuition classes and found that
(15:48):
, you know, as women and asnurses, we can be very intuitive
and not realize that we listento our gut feelings a lot, but
that we all have this abilityand we can develop it, have this
ability and we can develop it.
And so I've kind of spent mylife continuing to develop that
intuition and it helps me a lotin my work and also in my
self-care, because I'm more intune to what it is I need.
(16:10):
On what level is this?
A body thing, a mind thing, aspirit thing?
Maybe it's all of it being moreattuned to that?
And so the intuitiondevelopment is just crucial, and
I see it even more in this dayand age where there's so much
outside noise, we really need tolearn more and more about going
inside and what you know.
(16:30):
What is our guidance telling us?
Because the outside world iskind of a mess at the moment and
it's also important that wekeep evolving ourselves, because
that's the best gift we cangive to the world.
I mean, we're here on theplanet and while we're here,
what can we do to continueevolving, continue to grow and
(16:50):
then, you know, help this worldthat we're in?
So, in spite of all the noise,continuing to grow ourselves.
The other thing I really gotinterested in was energy.
It kind of goes along with theintuition tune about what's
happening with your body andthat sort of thing and energy
healing and working withcrystals and different
modalities like tapping.
(17:13):
I don't know if you're familiarwith that.
There are so many tools.
That's what I've discovered isin my journey lots and lots of
tools.
What I like to do in workingwith a client is, if they're
whatever they're open to around,that is, you know, trying
different things that mightresonate with them, because it
can get overwhelming thatthere's so much out there, but
(17:34):
you can find the few things thatreally support you, that really
help you to learn and grow anddevelop and make make life
easier.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I love that.
You said that.
I love I got.
I love um learning, aboutintuition, um, I read this book.
I think I have it in here.
What's it called?
Yeah, I think it's called blink.
Have you heard of that?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
that's good.
I haven't read it yet, but thatthat is good one.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I loved it because there's just times as a nurse
when you can walk if you afteryou've been doing it a while
where you can walk in a room andknow something's off, but you
cannot always identify what itis.
And when I read that book itwas just talking about how like
there's this whole part of yourbrain that is like processing
all this information around youon a subconscious level that it
is.
It's not like woo, woo, it isyou're picking up on these
(18:31):
subtle cues that you don't evenknow you're picking up on and
you have like the supercomputerand how like the first, how
accurate intuition is.
The book is so good Cause thereit tells you there's some times
where you shouldn't trust that.
There's times where it can getcrossed.
But for the most part and I lovethis because this is a lot of
what coaching is about, tooright, like a lot of us know
(18:53):
what we should be doing or we'reafraid of acknowledging that
thing we know.
And it's a lot about likegetting people comfortable
enough to talk about that, toget there to own what they
already know, and so that Idon't know.
It was just like learning aboutthe science of.
It just is like so interestingto me, so I loved reading that
on your website.
I also loved reading about thisconcept of like the balanced
(19:18):
masculine feminine energy, sotell me a little bit more about
that.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
We all have both energies within us.
You know the part of us andthis is why you know women can
be leaders and men can becaregivers.
Yeah, because we all have thatability within us.
We just you know.
(19:45):
It's trying to sort out whathave we been trained and what's
really ingrained in us aroundthe genders.
Because if we can find more ofthat balance within us, where
times we use our logic side,sometimes we use our creative
side, but how can we integratethat in our body in a better way
, in our mind and soul?
Even so, exploring that insideand so it's both male and female
(20:08):
in all of us and supportingthat Finding that balance Now.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
so I have had a couple of different nurses on my
show or on the podcast and twospecifically I'm thinking of
that work a lot with healthcareworkers and both times we had
conversations about howdifficult sometimes it is to get
nurses to take care ofthemselves, like sometimes we're
(20:34):
one of the hardest populationsto get to like take action on
our own healthcare and I like Idon't think this is true anymore
, but back in the day likenurses used to be about among
the highest like smokingpopulation because we're such
like stressful jobs.
Yet we know we're prettyeducated on the health effects
of that at the time.
So I'm just wondering what yourexperience or insight is into
(20:58):
that.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Well, I agree with you that's what I see as well
and I've known it for myselfthat you know we're the last to
take care of ourselves.
But when and in my coachingwith folks, you know we talk
about that and I can see thatclearly and quickly and I try to
really help them see it as well, so that just taking a few
(21:20):
steps in their own care andtaking their own time for
themselves, like PTO forinstance, if someone has a
family, they're never going totake time off for themselves.
It's only to pick up the kidswhen they're sick or you know,
it's all for the family things.
But what if you know youarranged for a couple days that
are just yours, and I think moreand more people are doing that.
(21:44):
I'm not sure about nurses.
I still see nurses notrecognizing that or feeling
guilty about that.
I think as women that'ssomething ingrained in us as
well.
You know we're caregivers andso there's guilt involved and I
saw, you know, even MichelleObama recently spoke about how
(22:04):
once her kids were grown and youknow her husband was president
and we're all not wives of thepresident, but she put a lot of
her own things on hold.
I'm sure she still took somevacations and that sort of thing
, but the bottom line is she'sstill now, at this point,
looking at you know how tobetter take care of herself and
how she wants to grow.
(22:24):
And what if you know we didthat all the time?
What if you know your partnerreally recognized that you need
to grow and you need this timeas well as they do?
And it would, I'm sure, be amuch better partnership.
But when we are, you know, thenurses on the units and doing
our job and have family and haveall these responsibilities, we
(22:46):
really have a hard time takingthe time to even stop and look
at ourselves and look at what'sgoing on.
That's why I see too, and I'msure you do, self-reflection
besides self-care is the otherthing that we're not really good
at.
And so taking the time to stopand ask yourself questions and
get closer to your emotions andwhat you're feeling.
(23:09):
Journaling is a huge help forthat, but in you know, in our
sessions we do that too justtalking about it with someone
and coming to some realizationshow you're not really in tune
with who you are and what youwant.
Because if someone asks you aquestion and you're not even
able to answer it.
You know what you want.
That means you need some timeto think about those things and
(23:31):
figure that out, because you'lljust be on a hamster wheel
unless you have some directionyou know in your life.
The other piece of that, too, isknowing what your values are.
What are your top priorities,knowing your five top priorities
and then always bumpingeverything, every decision you
make, up against thosepriorities.
So if family's a priority,great.
(23:51):
If your job is a priority, butmaking self-care one of those
might be a great move, you know,but it's all very personal and
it's all very customized inthese discussions that we have,
and the plan is very much whatworks for that person and where
they want to go with it.
But first they got to figureout where they do want to go.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, I love there's another coach that's been on the
podcast before that talks aboutlike how many people that she
meets her name is Micah thatwhen she asked them what they
want like that is the hurdle forso many people, they haven't
even stopped to ask themselvesthat question in a long time.
And I love also that youmentioned like the guilt that
(24:34):
comes along with caretaking andobviously overlaps into nursing,
because I think that does playlike a huge role, and also in
burnout that I feel like a lotof nurses are trying to like
cause a lot of units areunderstaffed and I feel like a
lot of nurses are picking upextra shifts and maybe not
(24:55):
always in in in like aself-serving way, but in a way
to like save their unit, which,um, they're burning themselves
out for a problem that they'renot fixing too.
So, um, like that's one thing Ialways like to say on here like
it's not your job to fix thestaffing issues on your unit.
Don't pick up extra shifts Causeyou're in the long run.
(25:16):
I think you're actuallyprobably hurting yourself more
than you're helping.
But but I see a lot of nursespicking up extra shifts because
their units are short.
I don't know about you.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yes, but and that's the thing, is just saying no
being able to say no.
You know yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
So I noticed a lot of mentioned talk about like
transitions.
Are there any transitions thatyou specifically like?
I know you talked about yourdivorce and I know some people
are transitioning out of healthcare Are there any transitions
that you're working with peopleregularly on?
Speaker 2 (25:55):
or no, I'd say it's a lot of different things, you
know.
It might be they're looking fora new job, but again sorting
out what it is they're wantingthis next step of theirs it
might be now they're out oftheir, they've gotten their
higher degree.
Where do they go from here?
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Some business people who are taking a look at you
know what their direction isgoing to be in that way are
taking a look at you know whattheir direction is going to be
in that way, but it's you knowwe have so many different kinds
of transitions that it is varied, you know, mm, hmm, okay, so do
you have any advice forhealthcare workers who might be
(26:36):
feeling burnt out and, yeah,looking for a little more
support, feeling like they're ina transition and might need
coaching?
Give any advice for them onwhat they can do at home?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Sure, you know a lot of this you can do yourself, but
you, you know, can be helpfulwith another person being there
to be your guide and yoursupport.
But, to start with, it's theself-reflection idea and you
know, just sitting with yourself, knowing that you want to
(27:13):
understand yourself better, youknow going with that intent and
so you ask yourself, you know, afew questions.
You know, what is it I likeabout my life right now?
What is it I don't like?
If I could change one thing,what would I want to change?
And then visualization isanother important key to where
you can imagine what your betterlife looks like and you might
(27:36):
get some insight on, okay, howdo I get from here to there,
kind of thing.
Get some insight on, okay, howdo I get from here to there,
kind of thing.
The other really importantthing about nursing especially
is that you know you are facedwith life and death, sometimes
daily, in your role and theresponsibility of life, that you
know a lot of people can go toother jobs and it's not a life
or death situation With nursinga lot of times it can be and
(28:01):
realizing those emotions thatyou push down when you go from
room to room, not really dealingwith the emotions that you've
felt with the client you had,the patient you had in the past
room, you know.
And so that's where journaling,again on a long-term basis for
nurses, would be good becauseyou know, at the end of the
(28:22):
shift just writing down some ofthose emotions you felt.
Some people can't defineemotions.
We're not really trained, youknow, on what the emotions are,
how to label them.
That's another thing I work ona lot of times with people is
you know what is that feelingyou're feeling right now and
some people have a hard timenaming it.
But when we get down, what isthat feeling you're feeling
right now and some people have ahard time naming it?
(28:42):
But when we get down, oh,that's frustration.
Then you're getting kind of tothe root cause of things.
So I encourage that for thejournaling, to really try to
understand so kind of keysaround being resilient.
Resilient is what we want toachieve, to be able to kind of
be like a bamboo tree and flowwith the tide and adapt with
(29:05):
things, to be at that place.
You want to be very self-awareand to have that you want to
really pay attention toself-care, have self-compassion,
which means you know thatempathy that you're showing to
others, show to yourself, treatyourself like your own best
friend.
And there's another oneSelf-care.
(29:29):
I said yes and oh, that'sself-reflection.
How can I forgetSelf-compassion, self-reflection
and self-care?
Those are the main, like legsto the stool of resilience.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Yeah okay, that's great advice.
Um, what else was I did?
I want to ask you um.
Oh, I know um.
So tell me a little bit aboutthe kind of coaching that you do
.
I know you said you do somegroup coaching.
Do you do one-on-one coaching?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
I do, and what a session like that might look
like is, you know, mainlylistening to someone's story,
kind of where they're at rightnow and where they see at that
moment that they'd like to go.
And you know, we kind of workthrough that.
We set up a plan and someactionable steps to get there.
But this can take a couplesessions.
(30:23):
This can take different toolsto be able to draw that out and
get that understanding.
But it starts there and thenit's really working with the
client to understand what kindof actions would work for them
in their own life and how tosome changes that they can start
right away seeing are helpfulto them.
(30:45):
A lot of it is about just beingable to talk, and with a very
comfortable, safe space,confidential space, so that they
can really just let it out,talk about things they may not
have thought about.
And really the bottom line isthat people have all their own
answers.
They just need some guidanceperhaps to pull those out.
(31:09):
We all have our own answerswithin, really, I believe.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
So what kind of group coaching do you do?
Speaker 2 (31:18):
So through Substack we have a monthly session for
the actual um coaching sessionwhere we talk about tools and
talk about people's goals andreally focus in that way.
And then the second session ofthe month is around kind of
masterminding, so focusing onthose goals that people are
trying to reach and having thegroup really help support that.
(31:42):
It is known that people reallycan gain a lot from, you know,
hearing what other people'sgoals are, hearing how they're
proceeding and also supportingeach other and a lot of times,
even after the sessions, theycan be helping each other, you
know, achieve goals, and it'sreally about having a safe
(32:04):
community, I think in this dayand age.
You know we talked about peoplereally evolving, continuing
their own evolution, and a lotof that can happen in community
with community support, thoseconnections with people that we
really need so badly and wereally do arise from, and so
that's really an important pieceof the group coaching.
(32:26):
And then I also have this freeFeminine Rising Circle and
that's every month as well andit's another place where just
(32:48):
community space is held andexploring the feminine side of
things and how we want to risein this time, and women are
already doing it, they're.
Each person coming already hasyou know what they're working on
.
But it just helps kind ofexpand the whole idea and helps
the group grow even moreexponentially than they would
alone.
So it's really exciting to seethat and be in that space.
(33:12):
So both of those things.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Is that open to the public, or are those all part of
your coaching program?
Is the like Feminine Risingopen to the public, or feminine
rising open to the public, or itis open to the public, uh-huh
okay if someone were interestedin that, where would they find
that group or more info on that?
Speaker 2 (33:30):
um, um.
I have a flyer.
It's been.
Oh it actually.
It's out on linkedin on myprofile page.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
That's where it is and I'll put a link to that in
the show notes, then to yourLinkedIn profile, in case people
want to join.
That, okay, and I do.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I do want to add that , for that feminine rising,
another coach is joining me andshe's also a nurse, angela
Johnson, and she has this great,wonderful energy.
She actually is ince right nowwith her family um living there
temporarily, and so she brings,you know, kind of this whole
different energy to to the groupand that's really kind of fun
(34:09):
and she's a transformative coachas well love that, love that.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I want to come to one and see what it's like.
Yeah, barbara you have like themost grounding energy.
Even just talking to you, Ifeel so calm and at peace.
Oh, thank you, I like youshould record meditations or
something.
I'm like oh, I just find myselffeeling so peaceful talking to
you.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I love it oh thank you, and you know I do a lot of
work for that, so I reallyappreciate that feedback.
I do a lot of work to have myown calmness, it's well, it's
definitely working.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I feel it like in my spine.
I feel just like at easehearing you talk Like I don't
know what it is.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
But I love it and my intention is that everyone who
ever watches this will have thesame feeling, I think they will.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
I think they will.
So I ask everyone this Barbara,but what do you do for
self-care, like when things areout of control or things are
getting really bad and you justneed to like your go-to
self-care thing?
What is it I have?
Speaker 2 (35:13):
to say that you know, I'm certainly don't have the
stressors that I've had atyounger periods of my life.
So you know it doesn't compareto what a lot of you nurses are
going through.
So I really I'm able to havemore of a calm life at this
point.
But you know, certainly there'scrazy stuff happening in the
world and I definitely tune outof news.
(35:37):
I try to stay just a little bitaware enough for safety reasons
, but not getting entrenched andI know there were times when I
might have the TV, cable news onfor a while no, don't do that
anymore and really focusing moreon my life and what I can do.
(35:57):
And so there's a lot ofinternal things I do journaling.
I also meditate every day.
I love affirmations.
That's part of having a positivegrowth mindset is, you know,
trying to reframe.
Your negative thoughts comethrough your head.
And I'm still.
(36:17):
You know, this lifetime it'lltake a lifetime, if not longer,
to figure things out.
You know, for myself I've beenthrough a lot, I've done a lot,
but we're always learning andgrowing and so I still, you know
, look at different spiritualpractices, explore that.
I love sacred sites and I don'ttravel as much now, so even
(36:42):
just watching on youtube.
Um, it's, you can.
It's like you're there, it's.
This virtual world is prettyeffective, too cool, yeah, and
um visualizations, just um, yeah, oh, nature's the other one.
Get, get out in nature.
Just standing outside on thegrass is one thing, and hugging
(37:03):
a tree, I mean, seriously,there's something to that.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Right, I know, going outside there's so much to that.
Well, beautiful Um.
So if, uh, people are lookingto find more information, I'm
going to put that LinkedIn umlink on there and then can they
find you.
You said you're on Substack Iam yes, we'll provide that link
too.
Okay, we'll put that in theshow notes too, and is there
(37:28):
anything else that you want toleave us with, barbara?
It's been very informative andI've really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Oh, thank you, Jen.
That's wonderful Thanks.
Well, I do have freenewsletters, so you know, feel
free to sign up for those in anyone place.
Linkedin I have on my websiteand also on Substack and what's
your website?
Simplyharmonycoachingcom.
Simplyharmonycoachingcom.
(37:57):
Okay.
And you can email me at BarbaraAnderson, at
SimplyHarmonyCoachingcom.
Okay, and uh, you can email meat Barbara dot Anderson.
That's simply harmonycoachingcom, okay.
Um, if you have any questions,you know I would just say, take
care of yourself.
I mean, we want, if you showyour self-worth, you're an
example to other people to showtheirs, and I think in this time
(38:18):
when there's a lot ofnegativity against humanity
itself, we can, you know, in ourown small ways, value our worth
and value the worth of thosearound us, and that's pretty
powerful.
So do that, if you would.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
I love that.
That's beautiful.
Thanks for spreading yourmessage and for putting your
good out in the world.
I really appreciate it, barbara, and I wish y'all luck and
hopefully we'll have you onagain in the future to hear what
you're doing.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Thank you, jen, and good luck with your job.
Appreciate hearing about that,thanks.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of
Empowered Ease.
I'm Jen Olinger and today wehave a truly inspiring guest
whose life journey andprofessional achievements embody
exactly what this podcast isall about empowerment,
transformation and findingharmony in all of life's
transitions.
Joining us is Barbara Anderson,an extraordinary registered
(00:25):
nurse with over 40 years ofdiverse experience in healthcare
.
Barbara holds both bachelor'sand master's degrees in
management and leadership.
She's a certified executive andlife coach with a deeply rooted
understanding of healthcareleadership and the challenges
faced by healthcare workersrooted understanding of
healthcare leadership and thechallenges faced by healthcare
workers.
In the last decade, barbara hasexpanded her reach.
(00:48):
Becoming a traveling healthcareconsultant, she has effectively
guided physicians and nursestowards clinical documentation,
excellence and performanceimprovements, while gaining a
unique perspective of thecurrent challenges facing the
healthcare field.
Barbara is not onlyprofessionally accomplished, but
personally she has embarked ona journey of exploring emotion,
(01:11):
energy and holistic approachesto life and health.
This led her to establishingSimply Harmony Coaching, a
business dedicated to helpinghealthcare professionals, and
particularly women, discover joyand meaning in their lives.
Barbara's vision as a coach isto empower individuals With a
focus on life transitions.
(01:33):
She attributes much of her owngrowth to maintaining a curious
and open mindset through her owntransitions and challenges,
like navigating divorce whileraising two children.
Today, she continues to providethat sacred space for
transformation, helping othersfind their own answers and
achieve a balanced lifeincorporating mind, body and
(01:55):
spirit.
So, without further ado, let'sdive into a conversation with
Barbara Anderson and learn moreabout her journey and insights.
Welcome to Empowered Ease,barbara.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Great Thanks, Jen.
I really appreciate thisopportunity to talk with you.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, I'm way excited .
It sounds like you've been inhealthcare a long time, so I'm
really excited to hear aboutthat.
I'm loving your coachingprogram and the focus on
transitions, so I gave like apretty good little intro there.
But so why don't let's hearfrom your perspective, kind of
what you're, what you're up toand what you're doing?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, as you said, after a lot of experience in
nursing roles, but I was a pivotperson long before that was
popular and I've had wonderfuldifferent experiences in nursing
and the last 10 years was as ahealthcare consultant.
So I was working withphysicians and nurses across the
country and even a little stintin Canada with physicians and
(03:04):
nurses around documentation,even a little stint in Canada
with physicians and nursesaround documentation.
But I could see and hear.
You know, the issues are allthe same.
The healthcare system is broken, as we know, and people are
really challenged and it'sespecially falling on nurses and
all healthcare workers reallyholding things up while
hopefully we figure out ourhealth system and take it to a
(03:26):
better place.
But with that I realized thatwhat I wanted to do was coaching
, because I remembered when Iwas in home care, the first
start of my career, and I lovebeing in people's homes, working
with them around their healthcare and well-being, and it was
taking the whole picture intoconsideration.
You know their body, mind,spirit, family members, their
(03:50):
issues, their determinants ofhealth.
Before that was a popular termand I realized I wanted to get
back into that.
We're kind of working one-on-onein a sacred space, allowing
them to talk and vent and workthrough.
And what I really figured out is, especially through my career
too, is people really know theirown answers but they a lot of
(04:10):
times don't have a space to talkit through or or focus on.
You know some of the right toolsor you know how to get there in
a in a easier way, and coachingdoes help with that and so way,
and coaching does help withthat and so, and when I got
training as an executive andpersonal coach, I just felt like
(04:32):
I was home because it was justright up my alley.
So and we had talked about this, jen, that you know we do a lot
of coaching in nursing ingeneral, and so really it's been
a long career of working withpeople in that way and just
having those wonderful heartfeltconnections, and with that
people learn and grow and evolveand are empowered.
(04:53):
And that's the beauty ofcoaching and being able to see
those moments when the lightgoes on in a person's head.
And you know it doesn't alwayshappen in the first session, it
might be over several sessions,but there also might be several
times when light bulbs go offand it's just so satisfying to
see that someone's life can beimproved with that.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, I find a lot of my clients have light bulbs
early on and then we spend a lotof the time like trying to
maintain that because you knowlike are trying to figure out
how to how to keep that up.
So I love that.
Now you said something that I'dnever heard before.
But a pivot person what do youmean by a pivot person?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
There's a lot of talk in nursing, especially on
LinkedIn.
I see a lot about pivoting fromthe bedside for nurses, because
a lot of times in the nursingrole you feel that you're not
going to be a nurse, you'regoing to lose skills.
You know, the expectation wouldbe that you stay at the bedside
so you don't lose your skills,so that you have a job, that you
(05:52):
know that sort of thing, but alot of nurses feel stuck there.
And what I found there's somany opportunities in nursing
and to be able to explore themand be open to that.
And you know we may talk alittle bit about this down the
line, but I really believe in agrowth mindset and that's being
curious and being open tolearning and growing, because
that's what feeds us.
(06:12):
I believe, and that definitelyhappens when you pivot roles and
you know I kept looking forwhat worked better for me and
sometimes it worked, you know,for a couple of years and then I
felt like I needed to move onand for me it was interesting
because through the differentpivots I found that I was
(06:33):
starting to take roles inleadership where there was a
change in ownership and thereneeded to be some shifts, and so
they would.
I would take those kind of roles, and so I would be cleaning up
things for a couple of years orstarting new things for a couple
(06:54):
of years, and once they gotinto this balance place, I kind
of got a little bored.
So I was always looking forthese new challenges, and that's
where, finally, I ended up inconsulting, where I could, you
know, do those pivotal roles forone company kind of thing, and
at one I, you know, was sodedicated to do that At one time
(07:15):
I was even traveling from thePacific Northwest to New York
City every week, and thathappened for a year, and now
that about killed me.
I mean, you know it's reallyhard to do your self-care and
take care of your own things inthat way, but I found too that
you find more about a place bykind of living there, and so I
(07:38):
really got into what New YorkCity was all about and
understand it better, and sothat was a benefit as well, to
get to know the people and theplace in a better way.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So do you live in the Pacific Northwest?
Now I do.
Where do you live?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
In the Seattle area.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
In the Seattle area.
Now do you do your coachingvirtually.
For the most part I do you do,virtually I do.
And so I saw you specify inmainly healthcare care workers
and women, health care, womenand health care, and I also saw
this, maybe in leadership.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yes, and I'm really open to anyone because it's
really all.
We have the same needs and thesame tools that we can use.
So it really is the same toolsthat we can use.
So it really is the same.
But I, you know, and my nichereally is nursing and healthcare
workers and especially around,burnout A lot of times it's
better if you, before you burnedout, to start getting some
(08:35):
support and some tools for howto work to avoid that.
But sometimes you're in it andyou're stuck and that's where
coaching can really help andsupport and, you know, that's
where I can step in.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yeah, I love that.
I think I wish it was morepreventative in healthcare.
But the reality is most peopleare, like you know, hip deep in
it.
I've been through it severaltimes before.
We acknowledge as a as a nursemyself, that I'm in burnout.
So I love that and I don'tthink I would have pivoted away
from the bedside.
But I definitely can relatewith like getting bored and
(09:09):
pivoting Like I pivoted likeevery two years to like a
different specialty.
I always stayed in critical carebut it was like a different
critical care specialty and thenat some point I floated to all
critical care specialties andnow I specialize in burnout too.
After burning out so bad andgoing back and doing the job a
totally different way with atotally different mindset, I
(09:29):
still found like this is notdoing what it used to do for me
anymore.
So I accepted my first job inleadership, which I start next
week, which I'm hopeful andexcited about but also a little
nervous that it's going to bedisappointing and what you know
(09:50):
in the way that it's part of thehealthcare system.
So do you have any advice forme as someone like going into
leadership and like a?
It's a very big hospital, thebiggest hospital system in the
area, so like very corporate,big healthcare system.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Well, congratulations for stop, yeah, I, you know, I
think the just be curious andstay open-minded.
And, and another thing is, youknow there really is such a
thing as imposter syndrome andyou feel like when you're going
into something new and I thinkthis is especially true for
nurses, especially ICU nursesyou all you always have known
(10:22):
exactly what you needed to do.
You're coming from a placewhere you're very skilled, very
sharp, you can almost do it inyour sleep, stepping into a
place where it's new and it'sdifferent, and you know there
are things that you'll belearning and that sort of thing.
But give yourself a break, bereally self-compassionate that
you can do this.
You have the skills needed, orthey wouldn't have chosen you.
(10:44):
And just, you know, take it dayby day by day, and before you
know it, a lot of these thingsthat were new become, you know,
older and more, you are moreskilled in them and and you're
bringing your uniqueness of allthese different experiences
you've had and who you are downto the table.
So, watch out, here you come,yeah, and, and you know, listen,
(11:08):
hear everything, use yournursing skills around.
You know what's reallyhappening here, what is the root
cause of this, and and thatsort of thing, to try to
understand it.
And and I've navigated thecorporate world in a lot of
roles and it can be reallydifficult sometimes.
But you know, look for peoplethat support you.
(11:29):
You know, look for mentors thatyou can kind of follow their
path, how they've succeeded.
That sort of thing, mentorshipis really great.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah, that's a great advice.
That's really great advice.
Mentorship was really great.
Yeah, that's a great advice.
That's really great advice.
Um, so when you when you sayyou work with mainly women in
healthcare, could you saythere's like a theme that women
are coming to you to work withyou at a certain point in their
life or with?
Is it mainly burnout or?
Um, what are the kind of peoplethat you're working with?
(12:03):
What do you see most commonly?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, well, I would say for women and this is for
myself also in my growth andjourney is around.
You know, we want to do it all,and so we're caregivers, and
we're especially nurses all andso we're caregivers, and we're
(12:27):
especially nurses around this.
But we take care of everybodyelse, we're empathetic, we're
compassionate and don't alwayslook at ourselves and what we
need to be able to support that.
So we forget that we have totake care of ourselves, because
if we have nothing to give,we're not going to be that
effective working with othersand trying to accomplish our
(12:48):
goals.
Because you know, we're tryingto hold down a job.
We often have familyresponsibilities, might even be
taking care of parents.
At this point, you know, I seekind of different ages, but it's
mostly midlife.
I would say when you startasking those questions more like
(13:08):
what about me?
And you know, what else can Ido to have a more joyful life?
That sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I could see that for sure.
I mean, there's so much thathappens at this age, like
hormonally and then like justyour values are shifting and, as
givers, that gets hard at thisage due with, like, the hormones
at play.
So is there somethingspecifically in your life that
led you on a personal level toget more interested in like the
(13:40):
more holistic aspect of like?
I saw, I think, on your website.
It was talking about like themind body connection and taking
a more holistic approach.
So I'm just wondering whatinspired you to go that route
from being in healthcare for 40years, sure.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
And and I would say I would also go back a minute and
just add that I do work withmen as well, and because they're
also kind of waking up atdifferent times in their lives
to try to find more empowermentthemselves.
And we all have the masculine,feminine energy in us and, you
know, sometimes most of the timewe're out of balance in those,
(14:16):
whether we're female or male.
So working through that, youknow know, can be very similar
for men.
They have different issues butalso can work with them.
What really happened for me andthis happens a lot for women is
, you know, a change in mysituation or where it all kind
of came to a head.
When I went through a divorce, Irealized that I had a couple,
(14:40):
small children, and I wasn'tgetting what I needed as far as
support and something had togive and that had to be it.
And so then going through thatsituation, the grieving of it
that you really don't have timefor because get up and go, you
have to take care of your familyand trying to figure out who I
(15:01):
was after I'd been guided intothis box of marriage really, and
it wasn't the path that Iwanted at that time, at least
with this person and it wasreally challenging because it
was against my religion to get adivorce.
Family didn't really supportthat.
I also was living in Hawaii atthe time and I think that which
(15:24):
is a beautiful place, wonderfulplace, wonderful time in my life
actually being so close tonature and such beauty and all
of that.
But there's a very spiritualcomponent to Hawaii too and I
think that also affected me.
And so there was a lot ofavailability of spiritual paths
to explore, which I did, tookintuition classes and found that
(15:48):
, you know, as women and asnurses, we can be very intuitive
and not realize that we listento our gut feelings a lot, but
that we all have this abilityand we can develop it, have this
ability and we can develop it.
And so I've kind of spent mylife continuing to develop that
intuition and it helps me a lotin my work and also in my
self-care, because I'm more intune to what it is I need.
(16:10):
On what level is this?
A body thing, a mind thing, aspirit thing?
Maybe it's all of it being moreattuned to that?
And so the intuitiondevelopment is just crucial, and
I see it even more in this dayand age where there's so much
outside noise, we really need tolearn more and more about going
inside and what you know.
(16:30):
What is our guidance telling us?
Because the outside world iskind of a mess at the moment and
it's also important that wekeep evolving ourselves, because
that's the best gift we cangive to the world.
I mean, we're here on theplanet and while we're here,
what can we do to continueevolving, continue to grow and
(16:50):
then, you know, help this worldthat we're in?
So, in spite of all the noise,continuing to grow ourselves.
The other thing I really gotinterested in was energy.
It kind of goes along with theintuition tune about what's
happening with your body andthat sort of thing and energy
healing and working withcrystals and different
modalities like tapping.
(17:13):
I don't know if you're familiarwith that.
There are so many tools.
That's what I've discovered isin my journey lots and lots of
tools.
What I like to do in workingwith a client is, if they're
whatever they're open to around,that is, you know, trying
different things that mightresonate with them, because it
can get overwhelming thatthere's so much out there, but
(17:34):
you can find the few things thatreally support you, that really
help you to learn and grow anddevelop and make make life
easier.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
I love that.
You said that.
I love I got.
I love um learning, aboutintuition, um, I read this book.
I think I have it in here.
What's it called?
Yeah, I think it's called blink.
Have you heard of that?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
that's good.
I haven't read it yet, but thatthat is good one.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
I loved it because there's just times as a nurse
when you can walk if you afteryou've been doing it a while
where you can walk in a room andknow something's off, but you
cannot always identify what itis.
And when I read that book itwas just talking about how like
there's this whole part of yourbrain that is like processing
all this information around youon a subconscious level that it
is.
It's not like woo, woo, it isyou're picking up on these
(18:31):
subtle cues that you don't evenknow you're picking up on and
you have like the supercomputerand how like the first, how
accurate intuition is.
The book is so good Cause thereit tells you there's some times
where you shouldn't trust that.
There's times where it can getcrossed.
But for the most part and I lovethis because this is a lot of
what coaching is about, tooright, like a lot of us know
(18:53):
what we should be doing or we'reafraid of acknowledging that
thing we know.
And it's a lot about likegetting people comfortable
enough to talk about that, toget there to own what they
already know, and so that Idon't know.
It was just like learning aboutthe science of.
It just is like so interestingto me, so I loved reading that
on your website.
I also loved reading about thisconcept of like the balanced
(19:18):
masculine feminine energy, sotell me a little bit more about
that.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
We all have both energies within us.
You know the part of us andthis is why you know women can
be leaders and men can becaregivers.
Yeah, because we all have thatability within us.
We just you know.
(19:45):
It's trying to sort out whathave we been trained and what's
really ingrained in us aroundthe genders.
Because if we can find more ofthat balance within us, where
times we use our logic side,sometimes we use our creative
side, but how can we integratethat in our body in a better way
, in our mind and soul?
Even so, exploring that insideand so it's both male and female
(20:08):
in all of us and supportingthat Finding that balance Now.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
so I have had a couple of different nurses on my
show or on the podcast and twospecifically I'm thinking of
that work a lot with healthcareworkers and both times we had
conversations about howdifficult sometimes it is to get
nurses to take care ofthemselves, like sometimes we're
(20:34):
one of the hardest populationsto get to like take action on
our own healthcare and I like Idon't think this is true anymore
, but back in the day likenurses used to be about among
the highest like smokingpopulation because we're such
like stressful jobs.
Yet we know we're prettyeducated on the health effects
of that at the time.
So I'm just wondering what yourexperience or insight is into
(20:58):
that.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Well, I agree with you that's what I see as well
and I've known it for myselfthat you know we're the last to
take care of ourselves.
But when and in my coachingwith folks, you know we talk
about that and I can see thatclearly and quickly and I try to
really help them see it as well, so that just taking a few
(21:20):
steps in their own care andtaking their own time for
themselves, like PTO forinstance, if someone has a
family, they're never going totake time off for themselves.
It's only to pick up the kidswhen they're sick or you know,
it's all for the family things.
But what if you know youarranged for a couple days that
are just yours, and I think moreand more people are doing that.
(21:44):
I'm not sure about nurses.
I still see nurses notrecognizing that or feeling
guilty about that.
I think as women that'ssomething ingrained in us as
well.
You know we're caregivers andso there's guilt involved and I
saw, you know, even MichelleObama recently spoke about how
(22:04):
once her kids were grown and youknow her husband was president
and we're all not wives of thepresident, but she put a lot of
her own things on hold.
I'm sure she still took somevacations and that sort of thing
, but the bottom line is she'sstill now, at this point,
looking at you know how tobetter take care of herself and
how she wants to grow.
(22:24):
And what if you know we didthat all the time?
What if you know your partnerreally recognized that you need
to grow and you need this timeas well as they do?
And it would, I'm sure, be amuch better partnership.
But when we are, you know, thenurses on the units and doing
our job and have family and haveall these responsibilities, we
(22:46):
really have a hard time takingthe time to even stop and look
at ourselves and look at what'sgoing on.
That's why I see too, and I'msure you do, self-reflection
besides self-care is the otherthing that we're not really good
at.
And so taking the time to stopand ask yourself questions and
get closer to your emotions andwhat you're feeling.
(23:09):
Journaling is a huge help forthat, but in you know, in our
sessions we do that too justtalking about it with someone
and coming to some realizationshow you're not really in tune
with who you are and what youwant.
Because if someone asks you aquestion and you're not even
able to answer it.
You know what you want.
That means you need some timeto think about those things and
(23:31):
figure that out, because you'lljust be on a hamster wheel
unless you have some directionyou know in your life.
The other piece of that, too, isknowing what your values are.
What are your top priorities,knowing your five top priorities
and then always bumpingeverything, every decision you
make, up against thosepriorities.
So if family's a priority,great.
(23:51):
If your job is a priority, butmaking self-care one of those
might be a great move, you know,but it's all very personal and
it's all very customized inthese discussions that we have,
and the plan is very much whatworks for that person and where
they want to go with it.
But first they got to figureout where they do want to go.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, I love there's another coach that's been on the
podcast before that talks aboutlike how many people that she
meets her name is Micah thatwhen she asked them what they
want like that is the hurdle forso many people, they haven't
even stopped to ask themselvesthat question in a long time.
And I love also that youmentioned like the guilt that
(24:34):
comes along with caretaking andobviously overlaps into nursing,
because I think that does playlike a huge role, and also in
burnout that I feel like a lotof nurses are trying to like
cause a lot of units areunderstaffed and I feel like a
lot of nurses are picking upextra shifts and maybe not
(24:55):
always in in in like aself-serving way, but in a way
to like save their unit, which,um, they're burning themselves
out for a problem that they'renot fixing too.
So, um, like that's one thing Ialways like to say on here like
it's not your job to fix thestaffing issues on your unit.
Don't pick up extra shifts Causeyou're in the long run.
(25:16):
I think you're actuallyprobably hurting yourself more
than you're helping.
But but I see a lot of nursespicking up extra shifts because
their units are short.
I don't know about you.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Yes, but and that's the thing, is just saying no
being able to say no.
You know yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
So I noticed a lot of mentioned talk about like
transitions.
Are there any transitions thatyou specifically like?
I know you talked about yourdivorce and I know some people
are transitioning out of healthcare Are there any transitions
that you're working with peopleregularly on?
Speaker 2 (25:55):
or no, I'd say it's a lot of different things, you
know.
It might be they're looking fora new job, but again sorting
out what it is they're wantingthis next step of theirs it
might be now they're out oftheir, they've gotten their
higher degree.
Where do they go from here?
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Some business people who are taking a look at you
know what their direction isgoing to be in that way are
taking a look at you know whattheir direction is going to be
in that way, but it's you knowwe have so many different kinds
of transitions that it is varied, you know, mm, hmm, okay, so do
you have any advice forhealthcare workers who might be
(26:36):
feeling burnt out and, yeah,looking for a little more
support, feeling like they're ina transition and might need
coaching?
Give any advice for them onwhat they can do at home?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Sure, you know a lot of this you can do yourself, but
you, you know, can be helpfulwith another person being there
to be your guide and yoursupport.
But, to start with, it's theself-reflection idea and you
know, just sitting with yourself, knowing that you want to
(27:13):
understand yourself better, youknow going with that intent and
so you ask yourself, you know, afew questions.
You know, what is it I likeabout my life right now?
What is it I don't like?
If I could change one thing,what would I want to change?
And then visualization isanother important key to where
you can imagine what your betterlife looks like and you might
(27:36):
get some insight on, okay, howdo I get from here to there,
kind of thing.
Get some insight on, okay, howdo I get from here to there,
kind of thing.
The other really importantthing about nursing especially
is that you know you are facedwith life and death, sometimes
daily, in your role and theresponsibility of life, that you
know a lot of people can go toother jobs and it's not a life
or death situation With nursinga lot of times it can be and
(28:01):
realizing those emotions thatyou push down when you go from
room to room, not really dealingwith the emotions that you've
felt with the client you had,the patient you had in the past
room, you know.
And so that's where journaling,again on a long-term basis for
nurses, would be good becauseyou know, at the end of the
(28:22):
shift just writing down some ofthose emotions you felt.
Some people can't defineemotions.
We're not really trained, youknow, on what the emotions are,
how to label them.
That's another thing I work ona lot of times with people is
you know what is that feelingyou're feeling right now and
some people have a hard timenaming it.
But when we get down, what isthat feeling you're feeling
right now and some people have ahard time naming it?
(28:42):
But when we get down, oh,that's frustration.
Then you're getting kind of tothe root cause of things.
So I encourage that for thejournaling, to really try to
understand so kind of keysaround being resilient.
Resilient is what we want toachieve, to be able to kind of
be like a bamboo tree and flowwith the tide and adapt with
(29:05):
things, to be at that place.
You want to be very self-awareand to have that you want to
really pay attention toself-care, have self-compassion,
which means you know thatempathy that you're showing to
others, show to yourself, treatyourself like your own best
friend.
And there's another oneSelf-care.
(29:29):
I said yes and oh, that'sself-reflection.
How can I forgetSelf-compassion, self-reflection
and self-care?
Those are the main, like legsto the stool of resilience.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Yeah okay, that's great advice.
Um, what else was I did?
I want to ask you um.
Oh, I know um.
So tell me a little bit aboutthe kind of coaching that you do
.
I know you said you do somegroup coaching.
Do you do one-on-one coaching?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
I do, and what a session like that might look
like is, you know, mainlylistening to someone's story,
kind of where they're at rightnow and where they see at that
moment that they'd like to go.
And you know, we kind of workthrough that.
We set up a plan and someactionable steps to get there.
But this can take a couplesessions.
(30:23):
This can take different toolsto be able to draw that out and
get that understanding.
But it starts there and thenit's really working with the
client to understand what kindof actions would work for them
in their own life and how tosome changes that they can start
right away seeing are helpfulto them.
(30:45):
A lot of it is about just beingable to talk, and with a very
comfortable, safe space,confidential space, so that they
can really just let it out,talk about things they may not
have thought about.
And really the bottom line isthat people have all their own
answers.
They just need some guidanceperhaps to pull those out.
(31:09):
We all have our own answerswithin, really, I believe.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
So what kind of group coaching do you do?
Speaker 2 (31:18):
So through Substack we have a monthly session for
the actual um coaching sessionwhere we talk about tools and
talk about people's goals andreally focus in that way.
And then the second session ofthe month is around kind of
masterminding, so focusing onthose goals that people are
trying to reach and having thegroup really help support that.
(31:42):
It is known that people reallycan gain a lot from, you know,
hearing what other people'sgoals are, hearing how they're
proceeding and also supportingeach other and a lot of times,
even after the sessions, theycan be helping each other, you
know, achieve goals, and it'sreally about having a safe
(32:04):
community, I think in this dayand age.
You know we talked about peoplereally evolving, continuing
their own evolution, and a lotof that can happen in community
with community support, thoseconnections with people that we
really need so badly and wereally do arise from, and so
that's really an important pieceof the group coaching.
(32:26):
And then I also have this freeFeminine Rising Circle and
that's every month as well andit's another place where just
(32:48):
community space is held andexploring the feminine side of
things and how we want to risein this time, and women are
already doing it, they're.
Each person coming already hasyou know what they're working on
.
But it just helps kind ofexpand the whole idea and helps
the group grow even moreexponentially than they would
alone.
So it's really exciting to seethat and be in that space.
(33:12):
So both of those things.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Is that open to the public, or are those all part of
your coaching program?
Is the like Feminine Risingopen to the public, or feminine
rising open to the public, or itis open to the public, uh-huh
okay if someone were interestedin that, where would they find
that group or more info on that?
Speaker 2 (33:30):
um, um.
I have a flyer.
It's been.
Oh it actually.
It's out on linkedin on myprofile page.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
That's where it is and I'll put a link to that in
the show notes, then to yourLinkedIn profile, in case people
want to join.
That, okay, and I do.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
I do want to add that , for that feminine rising,
another coach is joining me andshe's also a nurse, angela
Johnson, and she has this great,wonderful energy.
She actually is ince right nowwith her family um living there
temporarily, and so she brings,you know, kind of this whole
different energy to to the groupand that's really kind of fun
(34:09):
and she's a transformative coachas well love that, love that.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
I want to come to one and see what it's like.
Yeah, barbara you have like themost grounding energy.
Even just talking to you, Ifeel so calm and at peace.
Oh, thank you, I like youshould record meditations or
something.
I'm like oh, I just find myselffeeling so peaceful talking to
you.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I love it oh thank you, and you know I do a lot of
work for that, so I reallyappreciate that feedback.
I do a lot of work to have myown calmness, it's well, it's
definitely working.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I feel it like in my spine.
I feel just like at easehearing you talk Like I don't
know what it is.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
But I love it and my intention is that everyone who
ever watches this will have thesame feeling, I think they will.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
I think they will.
So I ask everyone this Barbara,but what do you do for
self-care, like when things areout of control or things are
getting really bad and you justneed to like your go-to
self-care thing?
What is it I have?
Speaker 2 (35:13):
to say that you know, I'm certainly don't have the
stressors that I've had atyounger periods of my life.
So you know it doesn't compareto what a lot of you nurses are
going through.
So I really I'm able to havemore of a calm life at this
point.
But you know, certainly there'scrazy stuff happening in the
world and I definitely tune outof news.
(35:37):
I try to stay just a little bitaware enough for safety reasons
, but not getting entrenched andI know there were times when I
might have the TV, cable news onfor a while no, don't do that
anymore and really focusing moreon my life and what I can do.
(35:57):
And so there's a lot ofinternal things I do journaling.
I also meditate every day.
I love affirmations.
That's part of having a positivegrowth mindset is, you know,
trying to reframe.
Your negative thoughts comethrough your head.
And I'm still.
(36:17):
You know, this lifetime it'lltake a lifetime, if not longer,
to figure things out.
You know, for myself I've beenthrough a lot, I've done a lot,
but we're always learning andgrowing and so I still, you know
, look at different spiritualpractices, explore that.
I love sacred sites and I don'ttravel as much now, so even
(36:42):
just watching on youtube.
Um, it's, you can.
It's like you're there, it's.
This virtual world is prettyeffective, too cool, yeah, and
um visualizations, just um, yeah, oh, nature's the other one.
Get, get out in nature.
Just standing outside on thegrass is one thing, and hugging
(37:03):
a tree, I mean, seriously,there's something to that.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Right, I know, going outside there's so much to that.
Well, beautiful Um.
So if, uh, people are lookingto find more information, I'm
going to put that LinkedIn umlink on there and then can they
find you.
You said you're on Substack Iam yes, we'll provide that link
too.
Okay, we'll put that in theshow notes too, and is there
(37:28):
anything else that you want toleave us with, barbara?
It's been very informative andI've really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Oh, thank you, Jen.
That's wonderful Thanks.
Well, I do have freenewsletters, so you know, feel
free to sign up for those in anyone place.
Linkedin I have on my websiteand also on Substack and what's
your website?
Simplyharmonycoachingcom.
Simplyharmonycoachingcom.
(37:57):
Okay.
And you can email me at BarbaraAnderson, at
SimplyHarmonyCoachingcom.
Okay, and uh, you can email meat Barbara dot Anderson.
That's simply harmonycoachingcom, okay.
Um, if you have any questions,you know I would just say, take
care of yourself.
I mean, we want, if you showyour self-worth, you're an
example to other people to showtheirs, and I think in this time
(38:18):
when there's a lot ofnegativity against humanity
itself, we can, you know, in ourown small ways, value our worth
and value the worth of thosearound us, and that's pretty
powerful.
So do that, if you would.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
I love that.
That's beautiful.
Thanks for spreading yourmessage and for putting your
good out in the world.
I really appreciate it, barbara, and I wish y'all luck and
hopefully we'll have you onagain in the future to hear what
you're doing.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
Thank you, jen, and good luck with your job.
Appreciate hearing about that,thanks.
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