Beyond Burnout: Why “Getting By” Isn’t the Goal

Do you want to thrive? Like really feel engaged and enthusiastic, calmly confident and secure?

Can you even picture it or does it seem as likely as becoming a marathon runner? I mean, miracles can happen, but for many of us that seems out of reach; not impossible but highly improbable.

Is this the category that feeling good in your life has fallen into; highly improbable?

Maybe it makes you sad to just think about it. You don’t want to be exhausted and unmotivated. You don’t want to feel like you are down to your last straw.

And yet, you are just getting by, and everything feels like so much work.

Sound familiar? Have you ever felt this way?

It can come and go; you may start the day out strong, and then life happens, and your attempts at a good mood start to fail.

First, I want you to know that if this resonates with you, you’re not alone—and no, I’m not psychic. I’ve experienced this myself (and still do at times), and I’ve coached countless nurses for whom this has been their reality.

This is a normal response to living a busy life when you show up, day in and day,

 out to care for other people

AND

It doesn’t have to stay this way.

Take a breath.

Thriving—actually thriving, not just avoiding burnout—is possible. Feeling good is possible. And while it may take consistent training, much like the consistency required for marathon running, it’s nowhere near as physically demanding. Truth be told, you don’t even have to be able to walk to feel better.

No physical exercise required.

(Obviously movement can make you feel better- I’m just not discussing THAT approach today.)

Feeling better is a skill, a skill that can be learned. True, it won’t eliminate all suffering from your life, it won’t necessarily make you walk around like a zen master, but it can allow you to thrive DESPITE the difficulties, the work, and the individual situations of your life.

Think about the last time you had a patient who was convinced physical therapy wouldn’t help (or whatever intervention you were recommending). Maybe they had a bad experience in the past or couldn’t comprehend that it was the appropriate intervention for condition of their severity. Did you simply agree and say, “ok, then don’t bother, maybe you’re right”? Did you offer another option or examples of ways physical therapy may help? Did you help them see how it may help them get back to activities that were important to them?

Did they remain skeptical even though you KNEW it was a good option for them?

Are we the same?

Do we resist the strategies that may help because we think they are too simple, too basic, and not effective in treating the reality that is our lives?

Do we just not have the capacity to believe that there is hope, that something can be done?

Can we take the leap of faith we ask our patients to take every time we offer an intervention that they may not yet have the belief in?

It’s ok to be hesitant to try something without certainty that it will help. It’s ok (and normal) to want to stay with the uncomfortable known instead of the unknown. After all, if it doesn’t work, we will have expended more of our energy that is already at a premium.

This is how most of our unconscious thoughts run. “Don’t try something new, it won’t work.” BUT this doesn’t mean we have to go along with this self-limiting thought. We would all agree that where we are now doesn’t feel great.

So we must intentionally choose; we have to choose ourselves. We must choose to invest in strategies that we may not have experience with if we want to feel better. We must suspend disbelief for hope, for promise.

The simple strategies DO work. That’s why I have spent the last 300+ weeks sending them out.

You don’t have to settle for getting by. Pick 1 strategy. Pick whichever one seems easiest, most accessible, most promising.

Commit to investing in yourself. I can’t do it for you. Your patients can’t do it for you. Your spouse can’t do it for you. And no, not even management can do it for you.

If you want to feel better, then commit to learning the skills. Be willing to try and fail, to be a beginner, to do it imperfectly.

No one is born a marathon runner. The idea gets planted that it’s possible and then they learn, they start small, they practice.

We can do the same.

I am here to support you if you need help. Don’t abandon the life you deserve for the life you have. It can always get better, and we can always be grateful along the way.

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If this resonates and you don’t want to keep navigating this alone, I offer 1:1 coaching for nurses who are ready to move beyond just getting by and start feeling better—consistently.

I begin with a no-pressure discovery call where we talk about what’s been hard, what you want to feel differently, and whether coaching is the right next step for you.

If you’re curious, email me at Megan@NursingBeyondtheJob.com to schedule a discovery call.

AND

If you need some reminders on the strategies, come on over to my website and peruse your options at www.nursingbeyondthejob.com/blog . Consider it a strategy buffet 😊 And I am always just an email away: Megan@NursingBeyondtheJob.com