43. When Opportunity Knocks But Peace Is Missing: Why Intuition Matters

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In this candid episode of The Nurses’ Breakroom with Jenny Lytle, RN, Jenny opens up about a recent decision-making dilemma that led her to turn down a “perfect on paper” job opportunity. What stopped her? A lack of peace.

Jenny shares how honoring her intuition (or what she calls divine guidance) helped her avoid burnout and stay aligned with what truly matters—flexibility, purpose, and protecting her peace. Whether you're a nurse, caregiver, or just someone navigating change, this episode reminds you that your gut feeling is valid—and essential.

Why It Matters:
Burnout can start with ignoring those quiet internal nudges. Choosing peace over pressure is a powerful form of self-care.

Key Takeaways & Action Steps:
✔️ Pay attention to your intuition—especially when peace is missing
✔️ Just because something looks right doesn’t mean it is right
✔️ Self-care includes making choices that align with your current season
✔️ Flexibility and rest may matter more than prestige or structure
✔️ Ask for guidance and wait for clarity—it will come

Perfect for:
Nurses, caregivers, busy women, and anyone standing at a crossroads and craving clarity.

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.
This week we're going to betalking about protecting your
peace.
Now, as I've talked aboutbefore, over the past couple of
months I've gotten a bit out ofwhack in terms of the way I want
to be living my life, the way Iwant to show up, and I know
that I let the busyness crowdout the things that help me be

(00:20):
my best, the things that make mylife joyful and peaceful.
And I know from past experienceand from the work that I do
that those little things thatcan have so much impact don't
have to take a lot of time oreffort, but they do have to take
at least a little bit of spaceon our calendars because they

(00:41):
rarely just happen.
And so that's something thatI've been working on and it's
been going well.
But I also realized that thereare some things that I needed to
look at.
It made me reconsider some ofmy work that I've been doing, so
I was potentially looking attaking a different sort of

(01:02):
position with a different,looking at taking a different
sort of position with adifferent hospice company,
because it was something new andit aligned in a lot of ways
with what I love to do and whatI'm gifted at, but there were
some things that just weren'tchecking the boxes and a big

(01:22):
part of that was the lack offlexibility that I have now.
This new position wasn't goingto offer that.
It was going to be a Mondaythrough Friday day position,
full time, no one call, which isgreat because I work on call
and sometimes I get to sleep andsometimes I'm out a lot, and
the older I get, the moreimportant sleep is to me and

(01:43):
it's always been high on my listof priorities.
But as I went through theprocess of talking with some of
the team members there andlooking more into it, I realized
that, yes, it was checking alot of the boxes for me, but I
still just felt this unease andI really don't think it's about

(02:06):
the company, I don't think it'sabout the position itself.
I believe that it's justbecause it's not a good fit for
me right now.
And I had been praying aboutthis.
I had multiple friends prayingand that's something that I
believe.
When something is right for me,god lets me know, and when it's
wrong for me, I also believe helets me know, and in this

(02:31):
situation I was praying, youknow, asking him to tell me one
way or another, whether this wasright or wrong, and I wasn't
really feeling anything inparticular, except for the lack
of peace.
And I found that sometimes helets me know in very clear ways

(02:52):
and other times it is just thatfeeling of peace with a decision
or not feeling that sense ofpeace.
And when I had asked my friendgroup again to pray for me and I
was really leaning towardtaking this position, I

(03:14):
expressed the fact that I wasn'treally feeling sure of it.
And as soon as I typed that andI sent that message, I thought
you know, I just feel like Ishould be feeling that peace in
order to move forward.
And as soon as I sent thatmessage and I had that thought,

(03:36):
then my friend was typing at thesame time and her message
popped up and said make surethat you know before you make a
decision, because I've been inthat same situation and I wish
that I would have waited becauseit wasn't a good fit.

(03:58):
So that's where I'm at and I'vedecided to turn down that
position and continue doing whatI'm doing in terms of on call,
but also add in a another PRNposition which, for those of you
who are non-medical, it'sanother kind of as needed
position where I'm able tobasically self-schedule, which

(04:21):
would allow me the flexibilitythat I have with my current role
.
And it's actually a positionwith a company that I've worked
for before and I enjoyed thework and it's a great company
and only getting better, and Ionly left because it was a
timing thing.
I'm excited because it'ssomething that could work well

(04:42):
with my goals.
I feel peace about it and Ibelieve it's meaningful work.
So my plan is to continue doingthe hospice work that I'm doing
, maybe with a bit of anadjustment to my schedule, and
then go back to some mentalhealth work.
That will also allow meflexibility, not only to
continue with my own coachingbusiness, but I'm also going to

(05:05):
be starting a contract role witha local university to provide
coaching.
So all of this to say somethings can look right on paper
and can check a lot of boxes andcan seem like a great new
opportunity, but really there'sthat gut check that's easy to
discount, it's easy to think.

(05:25):
Well, you know, there's allthese reasons why this is a
great fit, why this is a greatopportunity, why this person
maybe seems like a dream guy onpaper, but you just have some
kind of feeling.
For me personally, I believethis is God protecting us, and I
believe that intuition comesfrom God.
Now, you may just know thatfeeling as intuition, but I do

(05:49):
believe that we all have that,that we all have that icky meter
.
We have those times whensomething just doesn't settle
right in our spirit, and when wehave that, we need to listen to
it, and when we listen to it,it's easier to hear it more
clearly the next time, and Ibelieve this is one of the ways
we can truly take care ofourselves and decrease our

(06:12):
stress when we're doing thingsthat are aligned with what we
believe and what are meant forus in this particular season of
our lives that we happen to bein.
And so I would love to hear fromyou If this is something that
resonates with you, somethingthat maybe you realized.
Gosh, I wish I would have gonewith my gut in this situation,

(06:34):
or I'm so glad that I went withmy gut in this other situation
that maybe seemed like a bigstretch.
I'd just love for you to let meknow that, because I think
that's something that sometimeswe're good at, and then we can
start to second guess ourselvesa bit.
So feel free to shoot me anemail at Jenny Lytle, at Jenny

(06:55):
Lytle dot com.
And until next time, rememberself-care isn't selfish.
It's essential if we want tocontinue to care for others and
live our best lives.
Have a great week.