49. Shift Your Mindset in Seconds: Gratitude Tips for Overwhelmed Nurses

Send me a text - make sure to include your full phone number so I can reply (software blocks it) 💕

Feeling like you're about to explode from the pressure of nursing life? You're not alone. In this episode of The Nurses' Breakroom with Jenny Lytle, RN, we dive into real-life chaos and how a simple gratitude practice can help calm your nervous system, shift your mindset, and bring peace—right in the middle of the mess.

Jenny shares her own story of a stressful weekend on call and how she used practical, realistic self-care strategies to stay grounded. Whether you’re heading into a 12-hour shift or decompressing after one, this short episode gives you tools you can use now.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to find moments of gratitude in the middle of stress
• Why your brain naturally focuses on the negative—and how to train it otherwise
• 3 easy gratitude practices you can start today (no journal required!)

Action Steps:

1. Pause and list 3 things you’re grateful for—right now.
2. Shift your language from “I have to” → “I get to.”
3. Set a 2-minute timer and write everything that’s going well.

Keywords: nurse burnout, gratitude practice, shift mindset, overwhelmed nurse, self-care for healthcare workers, stress relief tips, practical self-care, gratitude reset, nurse mental health

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.
Do you ever feel like you'reunder so much stress that you're
just going to explode?
Everything is going wrong andthe harder you try, the worse it
gets.
I get that.
I've definitely had days likethat and yesterday was one of

(00:23):
those days when there are somany things going wrong.
Of course it can be easy tofocus on that and to feel
overwhelmed by it anddisheartened.
But if you start looking forgood things and maybe it's not
necessarily things that aregoing well, because maybe
everything really is a messright now but looking for

(00:49):
anything good, thinking ofthings like the sunshine or
maybe the clouds, if it's asuper hot and sunny day or a fan
or a wonderful, cool drink,maybe hitting all the green
lights or having a great songthat comes on the radio or

(01:13):
listening to a wonderful bookthose kind of things can happen
in the middle of the things thataren't going so well.
So just a quick story.
I had picked up call thisweekend.
I knew that I was going to havea little bit of time at the
lake and some downtime, familytime.

(01:34):
That was going to be enjoyableand I figured that I could also
pick up a couple of extra shiftsand that would give me some
extra money and would give theregular nurses some much needed
time off.
And it was the first day was anormal day, it wasn't.

(01:56):
It wasn't anything awful.
I did a visit and then I did anadmission, which I don't do a
lot of, so it does take me alittle bit longer, so I ended up
working over that day, but itwas all doable.
Then yesterday was a lot.
Yesterday, both myself and theother nurse that was working.

(02:22):
It was just call after call,and most of the time it seemed
like they came in twos.
As soon as I would hang up Iwould still have the phone in my
hand and it would ring againwith another call about another
patient from another triagenurse.
And it was a lot.
It was frustrating, it wasoverwhelming, because of course

(02:44):
you want to be able to meeteverybody's needs immediately,
but, like in so many situationsin nursing and in life in
general, it's hard to do that.
Sometimes you can't beeverything to everybody all the
time, and so you have to triage,you have to prioritize and
figure out who needs what themost.
Right then, and be able to workas a team and pass some of

(03:07):
those things off.
But then, of course, you knowthere gets to be that bottleneck
, and it's something that can befrustrating and stressful, and
so figuring out little ways tode-stress in the midst of
moments like that are soimportant.
So, of course, doing some deepbreathing, taking time to go to

(03:29):
the bathroom to stop and grabsomething to eat that you can
eat while you're driving thoseare things that really are
important, especially when youdon't have time to sit down and
eat a meal or take a real break.
Being able to fit in thoselittle things is so important in
the middle of busy, stressful,emotional days, when you start

(03:51):
feeling that tension in yourneck or you feel your heart
racing, you feel yourselftighten up and know that this is
not the way that I want to befeeling, this is not the way
that I want to go into my nextvisit or my next patient room,
or, especially, into my timewith my family, especially into

(04:18):
my time with my family.
And so being able to reallyfigure out how to change your
mindset in those moments whenit's not so easy, when it's not
so great, is a hugely importantskill, and it's also incredibly
simple, but it does take somepractice.
One of my favorite ways is justlooking for the good.
See if you can come up withthree things that you enjoy or

(04:44):
that are going well.
Think three things you can begrateful for right now, and that
may be looking around andseeing something, or thinking of
a friend or somebody special inyour life, or maybe a visit
that went quickly or a toddlerthat went down for a nap.
Easily, those little thingsthat really add up to mean a lot

(05:09):
.
And when we do those type ofthings that can help us to
continue to look for the good,our minds are programmed to look
for the negative, to be alert,to be aware, to keep us safe.
Because that's the way thingswere.
We really had to always bealert and looking out for danger

(05:32):
so that we stayed alive.
But now it's still easy to fallback into those things, and
really what we focus on doesgrow when we are looking for
something.
The more we look for it, themore we're going to find it, and
so it's.
If somebody tells you not tothink about a pink elephant,
what are you going to thinkabout?
Of course, a pink elephant.

(05:53):
What are you going to thinkabout, of course, a pink
elephant.
Or if you buy a new car, thenmaybe you didn't really notice
this particular car that muchbefore, but once you have one,
you notice them all around you.
Our minds focus on what we tellthem to focus on.
So when we are looking forgratitude, it's not about

(06:15):
pretending that everything'sokay.
It's focusing on what is okaynow, because even in the midst
of tough times, not everythingis bad.
And when we really focus on thethings that are going well, the
things that do bring us joy,then we'll be able to find more
of those things.
Find more of those things.

(06:42):
So three practical things thatyou can do are one just pause
and think of three things thatare going right or that bring
you joy, three things that thatyou're grateful for and those
can be big or small and thendoing a little bit of a mindset
shift with words like I have toversus I get to.
So maybe I have to work thisweekend versus I get to work

(07:09):
some extra hours this weekend.
And maybe there's maybe thatinvolves extra pay, maybe that
involves time off during theweek, or maybe that just means
that you're getting your time towork the weekend done and over
with.
And for the third thing, youcan come up with a particular

(07:30):
gratitude practice, like, maybeyou start off your morning or
you end your day with threethings that went well, or maybe
you just continue to name abunch of things, set a timer for
two minutes and write downeverything that you're grateful
for, everything that is goingwell, and as you do this, you'll

(07:51):
find that you feel moregrateful, that you feel less
stressed and you're able to moveabout your day in a more
positive way.
So until next time, rememberself care isn't selfish.
It's essential if we want tocontinue to care for others and
live our best lives.
Thanks so much.

(08:11):
Have a great week.