24. Gratitude, Goals, and Growth: Essential Self-Care Practices for Nurses

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In this episode of The Nurse’s Breakroom with Jenny Lytle, RN, we dive into the transformative power of setting intentions and making space for self-care. As nurses, it’s easy to get caught in the whirlwind of busy schedules and caregiving, leaving little time to reflect on what truly matters. Jenny shares simple, actionable tips to break free from autopilot, incorporate moments of gratitude, and take steps toward personal growth.

Discover how to:

• Use intention-setting to combat nurse burnout and regain balance.
• Incorporate small but impactful self-care practices into your daily routine.
• Reflect on your goals and make meaningful progress toward them.

Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed, stuck in a rut, or simply ready for a fresh perspective, this episode will inspire you to prioritize your well-being and reclaim your time.

Take the first step toward a healthier, more intentional life today!

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or like there’s never enough time, I’ve got something just for you! Head to https://selfcareisntselfish.com to grab your FREE copy of my book, Self-Care Isn’t Selfish: The Compassionate Nurse’s Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you prioritize your needs—without guilt—so you can feel energized, focused, and ready to take on the day. Go to https://selfcareisntselfish.com 

Looking for connection with people who get the stress and self-care struggles of nurses and caregivers? Check out https://thenursesbreakroom.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylytlern/

More ways to connect here: https://linktr.ee/jennylytle

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Nurse's Breakroom with JennyLytle RN.
Today we are going to focus onintention and the question is
how are you fearlessly pursuingyour dreams?
I know that for me for manyyears and, if I'm honest, still
sometimes I get very caught upin the day-to-day just busyness
of regular life and it can seemlike things are kind of on

(00:23):
autopilot life and it can seemlike things are kind of on
autopilot and then when I lookback I realized that weeks or
months or seasons have passedwithout me really taking a lot
of time to focus on.
What do I want?
What do I want this time tolook like?
What do I want to accomplishand it doesn't have to be like a
to do list kind of accomplish,but do I want to spend more time

(00:47):
with my family?
Do I want to focus more on myhealth?
It's getting clear on what doyou really want out of life and
then are you doing things thatare going to get you there.
One thing that I like to do tomake sure that I'm on my list of

(01:11):
priorities is color code, mycalendar.
So for regular appointments andthings like that, I use a
Google Calendar because it justworks well for me and for us,
because I'm able to share thatwith my family, even though they
don't get it a lot, but theycould if they chose to.
And I put things that Iconsider to be self-care in
yellow, because yellow issunshine and I know that when I

(01:32):
am taking care of myself then Ishow up better for other people.
So I encourage you to take alook at your calendar, and if
you're not somebody who keepstrack of things on a calendar
and you're somebody who just youknow more goes through the days
, then that's okay too.
But look back at, even ifyou're not somebody who keeps
track of things on a calendarand you're somebody who just you
know more goes through the days, then that's okay too.

(01:52):
But look back at, even if you'rejust mentally thinking about it
kind of where you have fit inwith that and if that feels like
too much, then for the nextweek or so, think about the
things that you're doing and howmany of those things are moving
you in the direction that youwant to go and how many of them
are just the autopilot, day in,day out things that we have to
do.
And I get your schedule mightbe really busy and you might be

(02:15):
thinking you know what, I don'thave time for all of this stuff.
All I have time to do are thesemust do things.
But I challenge that because Ibelieve that most of us and you
may be the exception, but mostof us have time for social media
or TV or just mindlesslyscrolling on our phone and

(02:35):
looking at things.
And what if you just set asidemaybe 10 minutes to think about
at the beginning of your week,what do you want your week to
look like?
How can you put in these littlepockets of time, these little
things that can help to get youtoward where you're wanting to

(02:56):
go?
Or, at the end of your week,reflect on how that worked out
for you and what kind ofadjustments you need to make?
And finding these little bits oftime it may be just a mindset
thing where you're able to stopand consider what I want the
upcoming week to look like, howdo I want it to feel?

(03:18):
So kind of setting an intentionfor the week, aside from making
it through.
What do you want it to looklike?
What are the things that youwant to add in or maybe subtract
?
Maybe you want to have ahealthier lifestyle.
So what are a couple of thingsthat you can do to set yourself

(03:39):
up for success?
Again, it doesn't have to beanything complicated.
You're not talking aboutchanging your entire routine
just a couple of little thingsthat that maybe even seem like
you know what.
That's too little to even makea difference.
Those are the perfect kind ofthings to add in.
So maybe you're feeling likeyou're kind of in a slump.

(04:01):
You know the the weather herein the US is changing and our
days are getting shorter, andthat can really affect some
people.
And last year, for the firsttime, I really felt that I
always have a little bit, butlast year it was.
It was it was kind of dark, notjust outside, but it got kind

(04:23):
of dark for me as well not justoutside, but it got kind of dark
for me as well.
And so maybe you know, maybethat's something that you want
to be kind of proactive aboutand that's something that I'm
working on this year as well.
So something simple but veryeffective is focus on three
things that you're grateful foreach day and if you're looking

(04:43):
forward a bigger goal, you knowwhat are you doing to get you
toward that goal.
Now, recently I went to New Yorklast week actually, and I went
for a conference on healthcareburnout and that was outside of
my comfort zone because I wasgoing to a place where, yes,

(05:05):
some of the people were nursesand other healthcare
professionals, but the majorityof the speakers and the
attendees were physicians of onetype or another.
And it would have been veryeasy to get in my head and think
you know what?
I really don't know, that Ibelong here and and occasionally
I did get in my head like that.
But what I found is that therewere a lot of similarities in

(05:28):
their stories and my own storyand the stories of a lot of the
clients that I've worked withthe burnout, the frustration,
the lack of self care, thedifficulty in making their own
needs a priority, because theyfelt called to their work or
they felt a sense of guilt andobligation.
And I realized when I looked atthe conference that this week

(05:51):
about how are you fearlesslypursuing your dreams?
My dream is to expand my reachand to be able to connect with
nurses and other healthcareworkers and really just those
that know they are meant to beserving others, helping in some
way, but they find that theirown mental health, their own
vibrancy, their own needs.
It feels like their own needsare competing with their desire

(06:16):
to connect with others.
And because it's my goal,because it's my passion and
because I believe it's what Godis calling me to do, I knew that
I needed to step it up a bit,and I've recently written my
book, and now I've decided to bemore active locally and I've
rejoined my chamber of commercehere and I'm doing things that

(06:39):
are definitely outside of mycomfort zone, and in doing that,
I'm finding that the need forwhat I want to do on a bigger
scale is being reconfirmed.
And so I believe that when westep out in faith and when we
step out in fear believe thatwhen we step out in faith and
when we step out in fear,basically just when we step that
things will align for us.
When we just take that firststep, then we'll see the next

(07:03):
step.
And that's what I encourage youto do is just take a few minutes
to figure out, to reallyreflect on what do you want,
what do you want your life tolook like and, if that's too
daunting, what do you want yourweek to look like, or your day
to look like, and feel like, andthen go from there, and next
week we're going to be talkingabout needs and the things that
are missing from your life body,mind and spirit.

(07:25):
Until next time, take a littletime for yourself and remember
self care isn't selfish.
It's essential if we want tocontinue to care for others and
live our best lives.