51. Unstuck: Self-care for when nothing is working

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Feeling stuck, drained, or just plain off? You’re not alone. In this episode of The Nurse's Break Room with Jenny Lytle, RN, we’re talking about what to do when nothing feels like it’s working.

Jenny shares 6 self-care tools to help you reset—not just mentally, but emotionally and physically too. These are gentle, realistic steps you can take today to get unstuck and moving again (even if it’s just a little bit).

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

• Use gratitude to shift your state—even when it’s hard
• Step away and meet your basic needs without guilt
• Move your body to move your mind
• Brain dump your thoughts—audio or written
• Ask the powerful question: “If I did know, what would I do?”
• Talk it out with someone who helps you see the bigger picture

Whether you’re a nurse, a caregiver, or simply the person who’s always holding it all together, this episode is your permission to slow down, breathe, and care for you.

🎧 Tune in now and let’s help you get back to center.

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.
Today we're going to focus onwhat to do when you're feeling
stuck, because we all have thosetimes when life can be going
along smoothly and then we getstuck.
Or maybe life is not going sosmoothly and we just feel like

(00:20):
things are not going the waythat we want them to go.
Maybe it's feeling like nothingis really going our way, or
it's one bad thing after another, and while that's natural, that
doesn't mean that it's a greatplace to be in, and sometimes it
can feel like we're not goingto get unstuck.
So just a few things that aresimple not always easy, but

(00:45):
simple to do and have them inyour tool belt, because not
everything will work for you atevery time, but it's just nice
to know these differenttechniques that you can try when
you're feeling stuck.
So one of the best and easiestones is to focus on things that
you're grateful for.
Best and easiest ones is tofocus on things that you're

(01:07):
grateful for and I know that'ssomething that can seem a little
challenging when you're in themidst of something that's not
great, or maybe you're grievingand taking just a little bit of
time to.
You can write this down, youcan say things out loud, list a
few specific things that you'regrateful for.
Say things out loud, list a fewspecific things that you're

(01:28):
grateful for, and most of thetime, even in the midst of bad
circumstances, there are thingsthat we can be thankful that we
have in our lives, whether thatbe people, places, particular
things or opportunities.
So that's something that is agreat way to start off.
Another one is stepping awayfor a bit, and when we get very

(01:53):
focused on trying to solvewhatever problem that we're
experiencing, sometimes it'seasy to get caught up in all of
the little details or that thiswon't work because type things.
And if we step away from thatfor a bit, if we evaluate for a
bit do I need to maybe getsomething to eat?

(02:17):
Do I need to rest a little bit?
Look at the very basic things,especially when we're feeling
stressed or overwhelmed thenthat's something that can bring
us back to a place of calm andmake it a bit easier to think
things through.

(02:38):
Number three is move, and thatcan be a change of location,
moving from one area to another.
Maybe that's even just in yourhouse, if there's a place where
you normally try to pay billsand things are seeming a little
stuck in that particular area.

(02:59):
You're not sure how you'regoing to fit everything in or
you know which way to rearrangethings If you move just to a
different area of the house.
Sometimes that can be enough tohelp your brain think a little
differently.
Another one is, in terms ofmove is getting some exercise.
When we exercise, thatincreases the blood flow to our

(03:21):
brain and to our muscles andhelps us to think a little more
clearly as well.
Number four is journaling, or abrain dump, and this is
something that can be done evenif you don't consider yourself
to be someone who journals.
You can do this in writing,like traditionally we think of
with journaling, or you can doaudio type journaling, and this

(03:42):
is something that I do sometimesif I know I'm going to be
driving, and we always havethose best thoughts when we're
in the car, when we're in theshower, places where maybe we
can't easily be able to writethings down, and so you can just
talk that through without doingany sort of recording it.
But I find that if I record itvia a voice app or I use Otter

(04:07):
it's an AI app for this.
That just records it.
But then it also willtranscribe it and I can go back
and see the ideas or thethoughts that I had.
And basically I'm just drivingalong talking to myself.
But it can be very helpfulbecause as you talk then
sometimes that helps to get someclarity around that.

(04:28):
Number five is stop trying tofigure it out.
Often, when we're reallyfocused on trying to figure
something out and we feel stuck,we can think I don't know what
to do, like I've triedeverything or I just don't know.
And something that you can askyourself and at first it may be

(04:51):
a little bit frustrating but iswell, if I did know, then what
would I do?
If I knew the answer to thatquestion?
What would the answer be?
And sometimes, just pausing andasking that question and giving
yourself a little bit of spaceto think about it, you can
realize that maybe you do knowthe answer.

(05:12):
You do have some ideas.
You're just burying those alittle bit deeper because maybe
they don't seem super practicalor because maybe you're just
frustrated and you feel like youdon't know seem super practical
, or because maybe you're justfrustrated and you feel like you
don't know.
And lastly, number six talk itover with someone.

(05:36):
We can get stuck in our ownheads and sometimes we don't see
things very clearly becausewe're right in the middle of it
and that's something we'retalking to.
Someone else can help us towork through things like that.
I heard somewhere a long timeago that it's hard to read the
label from inside the bottle.
When we're up so close to asituation, it can be very
difficult to work through all ofit, and so this is where

(05:58):
talking things over with afriend and just saying, hey, I
need to bounce this off of you,or if it's something that you
think, oh, I don't know that Ireally want to go to one of my
friends about this.
This is where coaching can comein as well, and this is one of
my favorite things to helppeople work through.
Is that feeling of being stuckor frustrated, or just hey, I

(06:20):
don't know what to do in thisparticular situation, and so, if
that's you, I'd love for you tojust book a call with me.
You can go to my website,jennylytlecom, you can book a
free call right there, and let'sget you unstuck and get you
moving in the right direction.
So until next time, remember,self-care isn't selfish.
It's essential if we want tocontinue to care for others and

(06:43):
live our best lives.
Have a great.