27. Escaping or Recharging? The Hidden Ways We Avoid Stress and How to Truly Rest

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In this episode of The Nurse's Breakroom, I’m getting real about something I recently discovered in my own life—how easy it is to mistake escape for rest. Between work, passion projects, and personal commitments, I found myself constantly consuming content—whether it was psychological thrillers or TV—thinking I was taking a break. But was I really?

Join me as I unpack the difference between distraction and true recharge, how my morning devotional and journaling shifted my perspective, and why embracing life’s challenges instead of avoiding them might actually bring more peace.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed and turned to TV, books, or scrolling as a way to "relax," this episode is for you. Let’s explore better ways to find real rest and renewal.

Key Takeaways:
✔️ How to recognize when you're escaping instead of truly resting
✔️ The power of intentional quiet time and reflection
✔️ Simple ways to integrate more meaningful recharging practices into your day

🎧 Tune in now and remember—self-care isn’t selfish, it’s essential!

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 Break Room with JennyLytle RN.
I want to share a little bit ofsomething that I have figured
out over the past couple ofweeks honestly, and I wonder if
it might be something that youare dealing with too or maybe

(00:20):
you've ever experienced.
So I have a lot of things goingon right now in my life.
I am working full-time hours,but I work PRN jobs to allow me
flexibility to be able to do thethings that I'm passionate
about, like really building mybusiness really building my

(00:49):
business.
My faith is very important tome and I believe that several
years ago 19 years ago now Godled me to hospice and there is
so much that I love about that.
But I also believe that for thepast several years he's been
leading me in a differentdirection, and I am so
passionate about working withnurses and other caregivers just

(01:11):
to really help you realize howimportant it is to take care of
yourselves, and in doing that,it helps keep that at the
forefront of my mind too.
But here's a funny littleconfession for you I realized
that in all of the things thatI'm doing and the connections

(01:32):
that I'm making and the peoplethat I'm talking to and the
things that I'm reading andlearning and all of that that I
was getting rather overwhelmedin a lot of ways myself and I
realized that I was strugglingwith being able to fit

(01:56):
everything in that I wanted tofit in, and that kind of added
to my stress.
That kind of added to my stress, and so I was escaping.
I started I hadn't done a lotof fiction reading for a long
time and over the summer Istarted doing a bit more of that
, but again I didn't feel like Ireally had the time that I

(02:18):
wanted to spend on that, so Iwas listening to audiobooks
instead, and I was listening tosome psychological thrillers and
I really enjoyed that.
But what I realized is thatthat was my escape from all of

(02:47):
the things that I had to do andwanted to do, but sometimes I
just felt like my brain needed abreak and so I would listen to
those while I was doingdifferent things, and so I
really wasn't giving myself muchdowntime.
I've constantly had somethinggoing, and not only that, but
the things that I was listeningto weren't things that were

(03:10):
making my life any better,giving me any new ideas.
Things like that I guess youdon't want to get a lot of new
ideas from listening topsychological thrillers, doing
that, taking that escape time,which can be.

(03:33):
It could be that it could be TV, and I've done that with TV too
, where I'm just like, oh, Ijust need a break.
But yes, it's a break, but it'sa distraction, it's not really
a recharge.
Now, I'm not saying that youknow that TV or books are bad.
That's not what I mean at all.
But I really personally had toquestion is this what I want to

(03:58):
be doing?
And I had realized over the pastcouple of weeks, when I
restarted my morning devotionaltime, that having that time to
spend in quiet and yes, I'mreading things, but still my

(04:20):
mind is slower and I'm able tospend some time in prayer and
just really in reflection abouteverything that's going on in my
life, and I've been doing somemore journaling and as I've done

(04:42):
that, I realized that I'm moreaware of the things that aren't
fitting well into my life, and abig part of that is listening
to a psychological thriller overthe course of a day or two or
maybe three.
And so yesterday I went tochurch and before and after that

(05:03):
I was doing some things andwhat I found is that in that
time, I was able to instead oflistening to something that was
an escape but wasn't reallymaking me feel better or more
rested that I was able to listento a podcast that I'd been

(05:25):
meaning to listen to as apreview for possibly wanting to
get on their podcast, and Ilistened to a couple of other
short things that are thingsthat are going to enhance my own
life and my practice withclients, and I felt more rested

(05:48):
because I had done those thingsthat were important to me and
that are going to enhance mylife, and it's made me more
curious about what are otherways that I am trying to maybe
escape from things that if Ijust embraced them and handled

(06:12):
them without trying to avoidthem, then maybe I would have
more peace and not feel like Ineeded an escape as much.
So something for you to consideras well, and I just I thank you

(06:38):
so much for tuning in.
This is the start of season twoand I'm so glad that you're
here, and I want you to rememberthat, in the midst of
everything that you are doingfor everybody else, self-care
isn't selfish.
It's essential if we want tocontinue to care for others and

(07:00):
live our best lives.
Have a great week.