47. Who’s in Your Circle? Reflecting on Relationships That Support Your Well-Being

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This week on The Nurses' Breakroom with Jenny Lytle, RN, we’re slowing down to talk about the people who matter most.

From celebrating her 27th wedding anniversary to honoring the 7th anniversary of her mom’s passing, Jenny shares a heartfelt reflection on the power of meaningful connection—and the impact of friendships, faith, and showing up for yourself.

You’ll walk away with powerful reminders of what true support looks like and how to nurture relationships that bring peace, not pressure.

💡 Takeaways + Action Steps:

• Reflect on which relationships feel easy, authentic, and energizing
• Identify people you can truly be yourself with—and those who drain you
• Explore ways to reconnect, release, or reprioritize relationships
• Revisit your relationship with God or your personal spiritual practice
• Take one small step: call, journal, pray, or schedule time for someone who matters

✨ This episode is a gentle invitation to grieve, celebrate, and reconnect—with others and with yourself.

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 focuson relationships, because it is
a week that is full of lots offeelings about relationships.
For me, on the 24th is my 27thwedding anniversary, which is

(00:22):
something that I'm happy to beable to celebrate, and I can't
believe, in some ways, that it'sbeen 27 years.
It seems like just a few yearsago that I was 27 myself and our
relationship hasn't beenperfect, because there really is
no such thing, but it's beengood and I'm so thankful to have

(00:44):
a wonderful husband and partnerand somebody that I not only
love but truly like and enjoyspending time with after all
these years.

(01:07):
The seventh anniversary of mymom's passing and that's
something that I talked moreabout in my book, and you may
have heard me talk about howthat's something that really
helped to spur my desire to helppeople realize that self-care
isn't selfish and that we reallyneed to care for ourselves in
order to be able to continuebeing there for the people that

(01:28):
we love and doing the work thatwe do some grace with myself and
take time to appreciate therelationships that I have, the

(01:49):
ones that I still have the onesthat I've been blessed to have
in the past, and on Sunday thisweek we actually went and
celebrated the life of a sweetwoman who was in my table group
or small group like a Biblestudy, and I'd only known her
for close to three years, butshe was one of those people that

(02:10):
just that just impacted you.
It doesn't have to be long termrelationships to really make a
difference in our lives, and sheshe passed away earlier this
year and we had her celebrationof life and it just the things
that people talked about werehow she was relationally with

(02:31):
people, with her family and withher friends, and what it boils
down to is there's so muchbusyness in our lives, but it's
the relationships that reallymake a difference.
And it's just really made mereflect on the relationships
that are most important to meand while I have a wonderful

(02:52):
family and I'm very thankful forthem a lot of my closest
relationships on a day to daybasis are my friends, and I
don't think there's anything atall wrong with that.
I'm very grateful to have thefriends that I have, and that
was something that I usually hada couple of close friends or at

(03:16):
least one close friend and afew acquaintances, but I,
several years ago, decided thatI wanted more and I really felt
maybe it was too late and thatpeople already had their friend
groups.
But as I talked to more andmore people, I found that a lot
of us were thinking the sametype thing.

(03:38):
And now these relationshipsthat I have with several women
are they're lifelong, deep,really important in the day to
day kind of relationships, andit's so important to have people

(04:01):
that we're able to really beourselves with, that we can be
honest with and not worry aboutwhat they're going to think of
us or how they're going to judgeus.
And and also those people thatcan lift us up when we are
struggling, because life is noteasy and there's going to be

(04:24):
times when we need some extrasupport or maybe we need
somebody else's input, becausewhen life gets hard, sometimes
we aren't able to see thingssuper clearly because we're so
close to it.
I heard several years ago thatyou can't read the label from
inside the bottle, and so whenyou're in the middle of

(04:47):
something that is so tough, thatis so challenging, that is just
taking so much out of you, itcan be hard to figure out
exactly what to do, and that'swhere having good, trustable
friends can really come in handy.
So I encourage you this week toreally think about your

(05:09):
relationships.
And what types of relationshipsdo you have?
Which ones feel good?
Which ones feel peaceful andinvolve people that you always
want to be with, that wheneversomething comes up, you don't
think, oh, I don't know, that Iwant to do this thing with her.

(05:30):
Instead, it's somebody thatit's not going to be complicated
, it's not going to be dramafilled.
You can just be whatever thatlooks like, and maybe that's.
You can be full of energy, oryou can be tired, or you can be
angry and need to grumble alittle bit.
For me, my most importantrelationship is my one with God,

(05:53):
but it's also the one thatsometimes gets pushed to the
back burner in the busyness oflife.
And I know that when I havedistanced myself from him, that
I feel more disconnected, I feelless peaceful, less joyful, and

(06:14):
having that awareness enablesme to do the things that I need
to do to get back to where Iwant to be.
And then that relationship withyourself, like I know for me
this week.
With yourself, like I know forme this week, I have

(06:36):
intentionally scheduled downtimebecause I know that having this
time to celebrate and havingthis time to grieve and just
reflect, I want to have thatextra space for myself.
What relationship do you want tonurture this week?
And then, what is one step thatyou can take to bring that

(06:59):
closer to reality?
Maybe it's making a phone call,maybe it's saying a prayer or
journaling a bit, or just havinga moment to pause and reflect.
Until next time, rememberself-care isn't selfish.
It's the only way we cancontinue to care for others

(07:22):
long-term and live our bestlives.
Thanks, and have a great week.