International nurses' surviving tips for everyday work (and home) pressures.

By: http://www.skybluecross.org/
Most international nurses are under everyday work and home high pressure, it is very important to know how to survive ; Here are some quick, easy and doable tips for surviving everyday work (and home) pressures.


·      DB&C – It’s not just for your patients, replace the "C" for coughing with "C" for contentment, i.e. deep breathing and contentment - inhale deeply and exhale for twice as long.  Fill those cells with much need oxygen; do this 5-10 times.  You can add words to your breaths.  For example, on the inhale say peace, love, patience, and feel the essence of those words being drawn into your body.  Exhale words you want to be rid of like, stress, frustration, anger. 



·      Acknowledge - Find a safe, private place to vent!  Scribble!  Doodle!  Keep a stress ball in your pocket or stamp your feet in the linen room!  It’s necessary to acknowledge the feeling of pressure while finding a release for that pressure.



·      Boundaries - There is no need to ruin your whole day, so give yourself a time limit to be frustrated.  Say to yourself, "I’ll give this 10 minutes and no more of my precious time."  Life is too short to let your whole day be ruined, so set a boundary and then move on.



·      Problem solve - If this is something that is recurring, ask yourself if there is something you can do about it.  If you stubbed your toe over and over on that bed frame, perhaps you should wrap a towel around the post!  Sometimes there are simple answers to recurring problems.



·      Repeat a mantra - I know what I know...I am doing the best I can at this moment...I am enough...I can’t please everyone all the time...I can only do one thing at a time...etc.  Repeating a mantra is calming, grounding and reaffirming.



·      Don’t take it personally - Not everything is about us.  Sometimes it’s situational, sometimes it's environmental, but if we can give people the benefit of the doubt a little more often and not assume everything is directly related to us, pressures may not seem as overwhelming. 



·      Hang out with the happy gang - Don’t let the cranky gang get to you; distance yourself whenever possible or they will bring you down to their level.  Surround yourself with winners, not whiners.  Develop a professional network of like minded, supportive people who want to deal with issues, not exacerbate them.

We all have high pressure day, but with a little practice and commitment we can shift the "bad day" to perhaps a "bad hour", and then with even more practice, reduce it to a "bad moment."  This is a life/work skill that will do you (and those you serve and those you love) well and will enrich your life for years to come!

Reference Sourcce: http://www.nursetogether.com