When the Work You Love Is Exhausting

If you could have one wish for tomorrow at work, what would it be?

More time? Better support? More confidence in your ability?

For me, it’s often just to have energy when I finish work, to have the capacity to do something BEYOND surviving my day.

The truth is, I like my job. I like caring for patients with chronic pain, helping them to find ways to thrive, despite the bodies they are stuck with. I like reflecting to them all that they have achieved, all their successes, while holding space for their frustration.

Despite this, the work can be exhausting, both intellectually and physically.

So if I want to keep doing the work AND have energy, intervention is needed. And it needs to start with acknowledging the problem.

Acknowledge that the work today was difficult.

Acknowledge that the work today was worth it,

Start there. Exhaustion increases when we get overwhelmed by the details of work: the never-ending dictations, the piles of labs to review, the unexpected interruptions and expected prior authorizations.

The actual work is caring for someone else- sure the tasks are important, the skills are important, the certifications are important (I have been known to chase a few), but at the core of it all is the care of another human being.

Focusing on the meaning and the impact lightens the load.

And the load is significant.

The truth is, I HATE doing notes, and I know I am not alone in this. I am in a constant battle between procrastination and my personal attachment to getting stuff done when it’s supposed to be done. I would happily see twice as many patients if I didn’t have to document it.

I also know if I spend too much time agonizing over the annoying parts of the job, my resilience ebbs and my fatigue rises. Not to mention, there is no way around documentation altogether. Ultimately, the piper must be paid.

But when we are stuck in documentation (or whatever your least favorite part of the job is), focusing on the meaning, and not the task itself, can help. 

Even doing this after the fact can help. It can slow the waning energy.  

To be clear, this doesn't make the workload fair, or mean we shouldn't push for change. It gives us another way to work with the parts we can't immediately change.

Let me explain how this has worked for me, when I am “forced” to do notes at the end of the day and fighting overwhelm. 

True, notes are super annoying to complete, but what else is true?

I am very frustrated if I don’t know what is going on with the patient based on past documentation. Documenting allows me to give better, more personalized care.

Hitting all the points for billing purposes can seem arbitrary and stupid. AND if I can’t justify the billing with my documentation, I won’t get to take care of my patient at all because we wouldn’t be able to sustain our practice. It’s not just my job or the jobs of my staff that ride on documentation and reimbursement; it is the care of all my patients.

To take it one step further, if I were a company paying for someone’s care, I would want documentation too.

These business “justifications” may not ring true for you if you are part of a large medical system but these are not the only examples of ways to spin the focus from the task itself to your ability to positively impact someone’s life.

At the end of the day, the extra documentation for a prior authorization allows my patient to get medication or a procedure that can help them. Documentation can help me pick up where I left off with the patient at their next visit.

So when I am drowning in documentation, I ask myself, “What does this task make possible for my patient?” 

There are lots of ways we care for our patients, even when they aren’t in front of us, and bringing our focus to that is what can help us provide care for ourselves. Tying ourselves to our purpose can lessen the strain of the parts of the job that may not seem directly related to the well-being of the patient.

And it’s ok to rest at the end of the day.

 No one was put on this earth to be an endless, bottomless resource for others.

We can be tired from a job well done without being emotionally spent.

Both deserve rest.

You may think this all sounds like crap. It may seem that adopting this way of thinking is letting the system or insurance companies off the hook.

Trust me, I am all about systemic change.

But we can’t change the system when we are burnt out, so if changing the way we think about things can make us stronger, more resilient, less exhausted, why wouldn’t we try that?

Then we can take on the world

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You don't have to figure it all out on your own.

If you're a nurse who loves caring for people but feels worn down by the demands of the job, I'd love to connect. Through 1:1 nurse coaching, we can explore what matters most to you, and help you create a work life that feels more sustainable.

You don't have to be ready to leave nursing. You don't have to have all the answers. And you certainly don't have to wait until you're completely burned out to ask for support.

Let's talk. Reach out to connect at Megan@NursingBeyondtheJob.com