Measurable goals for April. {Updated 05/12/2015}

I went to bed exhausted yesterday after work, I woke up tired, and never got out of the funk even though it was my day off. I tried to wake up and get a pep in my step after getting my nails done, and some retail therapy for this Wednesday gloom; but it just wasn't happening. So here I type from my bed at 10 o'clock seriously contemplating calling it a night (which I will pay for later once I start my stretch of 6 days on Friday).

I am falling back on the basics, goals for April:

1. Become a member of ONS {goal met}
2. Clean my bathroom every week this month {not met}
3. Turn 25 years old {goal met}
4. Do something new {goal met}
5. Bring another load of "extras" to donate, continue to prioritize quality over quantity{goal met}
 

finding time for gentleness

Currently, I am in my bed with my feet up, one cat next to me while the other is curled on my legs in front of my computer. It's the coldest it has been outside for weeks in the good ol' north in Minnesota so I decided for today to turn my heat up a little higher than I usually do and just be present. 

I don't have children, I live in a one bedroom apartment, and all I have responsibility to take care of is myself (oh, and the fur balls, but lets be honest they take care of themselves) and in my last 6 day stretch of evening shifts I quite nearly failed at a little bit of everything. (applause roars for all you moms & caregivers out there that also work full time (in my case especially NURSES), make food, clean their house, are lovers of their children/ husbands/ family's!; I could go on...I am overly impressed). I am still learning and growing and learning and growing.

Monday I hit a low point and I found a pin on pinterest; (the most inspiring place on the planet, obviously) it went something like this "be gentle with yourself, you're doing the best you can". Oh how this perfectionist heart needed to hear those words. So today I am doing just that. I am ignoring the to-do list of my typical day after a long stretch of work AKA: "laundry day" in other words a trek out in the tundra to the laundromat. I am giving myself some safe space to do what I need to do to take care of myself and save the productivity for when I am more rejuvenated. Finding gentleness for today.

Timely enough, as I was perusing the internet, and one of my Facebook acquaintances posted a link to this article, "20 Signs You're Doing Better Than You Think You Are". Have you read it? Another good reminder to get back to the basics and reminded me to be thankful. I am thankful to be gainfully employed and doing good work, even though it's hard work. I am thankful for a cozy home with a functioning furnace. I am thankful for family who makes time for each other. I am also thankful for these two fur balls who continually are so forgiving of their caregiver ;-). Since I haven't seen my boyfriend in nearly two weeks and I am out of town for Valentine's day (I know I am awful) he planned a date night tomorrow and date day Saturday that I didn't have to think to thoughts about and that of itself was a huge gift.

So wherever you are in your journey whether you are a stay at home mom, single, work from home, are a nurse, or company type find a place for gentleness. I would say when you find space for gentleness for your own life it will begin to overflow and be gentle with others as well.   

hi, my name is ashley, and I'll be your nurse for the evening...

nurses week 2014.

I am so proud to see so many of my fellow classmates posting such wonderful pictures, quotes, words, in celebration of nurses week this week. Just a year ago we were students who were on the verge of graduation and could never have guessed what the next year had in store. This week is special to me in so many ways because it's a time I can reflect on so much I have accomplished, so much I am thankful for, and so happy to be in a place surrounded by so many quality nurses on my unit. Tuesday was the first day of celebration of nurses week and that evening my boss came on the unit in scrubs and worked along side us, and throughout the shift passed out these wonderful bags to thank us nurses on her unit. What a great demonstration to work alongside my nurse manager and receive such a fun bag filled with treats and a card that I know I will cherish for a long time to come.

Nursing is so many things that I could never wrap into one blog post, let alone describe how much my heart goes into my job. I love my job. I am so proud to be in this profession. I hope that I can take care of myself so I can take care of my patients. Even on the bad-no good-horrible day, I can't imagine myself having a bad day in any other job.

This week I hope that I can remember all the nurses that left their legacy before me, and act intentionally to be the best nurse I can be, and how I can impact the lives of my co-workers as well as my patients.

Nursing is a team sport and I know I am so thankful for the people that I find around me to support me through it all.

happy nurses week, to all my fellow nursing staff & friends in nursing!

Celebrating 6 months of Melanie {Employed} BSN, RN!!

6 month anniversary.

I have mentioned my good friend Melanie on this good ol' space before {here}, but this weekend Melanie, Steff and I all celebrated Melanie successfully completing 6 full months of full-time RN employment on February 9th, 2014. Back when we graduated and passed our boards we promised each other we would take time to celebrate, relax, and enjoy time away from the pressures of working as a nurse on a routine basis. Whether this was with going out for dinner, on a vacation, or a simple overnight in our lovely city we call home. So it was decided that we would start out by celebrating our 6-month anniversary's of our official start date at our jobs. Melanie was hired as a full-time public health nurse, working for a non-profit organization that sends nurses to work in the homes of patients that have a psychiatric diagnosis and need skilled nursing visits, weekly/ bi-monthly/ or monthly. In her role as a field nurse, she has the demanding job of being part care-coordinator, advocate, and bed-side nurse. She works hard and puts 100% into every patient, they are long days but she also knows she's where she wants to be. She has a heart and passion for her patients and that's evident in how she talks about her job, even on the bad/ crappy days..because yes, they exist.

So we planned an awesome overnight in downtown Minneapolis. We stayed the night in Minneapolis' Hotel Ivy, enjoyed facials & massages at the Ivy Spa Club, and ended the night with a movie on demand and wine. All things that allowed all three of these nurses to take full advantage of relaxation and respite from the demanding jobs that we are learning to love. Next will be Steffanie's 6 month anniversary on April 21st, so please feel free to pass along recommendations of hotels/ spas/ accommodations in the twin cities we're all ears! 

Here's a few iPhone photos from our girls overnight :-)

brisk MN mornings.

Yesterday was my first one-on-one meeting with my nursing supervisor, who is awesome by the way! The meeting served as a 3-week check in, goal-setting, "review" in lieu of the fact I've only been there for three weeks it went really well! One of the things she talked about was the importance of nurses, especially those who work as front-line workers the need for a personal resilience plan, and incorporating self-care into my practice outside of work, so that I can be a healthy, happy, person. How I resonate with this both personally and professionally in my life. Having a personal resilience plan regardless of what you do, who you are, how much or how little you "work", it is essential in order to become the best you, you can be! As time goes on I'm thinking of starting posts themed around the things I do for myself and my personal resilience plan.

This morning I woke up and it was still below zero outside, and the sun was shining through my window. I rolled around in my bed trying to go back to sleep because I didn't have to be work until the evening shift at 3pm in the afternoon, and the words of my boss regarding my personal resilience plan came into my mind. I decided to get myself dressed and take myself out on a date, went on my yelp app and found a new restaurant that served breakfast and got my butt outside!

Starting out my day with myself, having personal space in a relatively empty restaurant to just relax was the best thing I could do for myself. In a job where there is constant voices around you, and are serving others when they need it takes a lot out of someone. After working all weekend I realized just how tired I will get after working 5 days in a row, and this was exactly what I needed.

So my first part of my "resilience plan" is going to be to dare to take myself out, and spend quality alone time doing things I enjoy. It was weird at first sitting at a table by myself, but it was also the most freeing experience I've had in a while. So thankful I did this, and will continue to do this as much as I feel is necessary.    

**photos taken on my iPhone, and posted to instagram, so if you follow me there...you probably have already seen these photos (oops)!

Date yourself!