I Need a Break. Bring on the Birds!

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I take care of a lot of people.

As a mother and wife I care for my beautiful family. As a nurse I care for my patients. I do it because I want to, and honestly, I may even need to. There is always a little voice inside my head that is urging me to “fix” things for those around me, whether they want me to or not. Call it codepence if you will, as that is what my psychology teacher dubbed it, but I think there is a pretty drastic difference between my need to care for others and the chaos that is codependency, but that is a topic for another day.

But regardless of the reasons I care for others, I do care. I care alot. And sometimes I care too much. Seems like an impossibility, right? Caring too much? But actually its something that occurs quite often. Infact there is even a NANDA for it: Caregiver Role Strain. Now QUICK! I need a 3-page care plan with you with outcomes for each intervention!

All day, everyday, I am responsible for ensuring that the needs of others are met. Sometimes between the screams of a toddler, the buzzes of a call light, and the comical inquiries and idiosyncrasies of my husband I feel pulled in so many directions that I can’t even think straight.

As nurses it is imperative we take care of ourselves.  If you shoot yourself in the foot, how do you expect to carry anyone? We have to stop, take a breath, take a break, and regroup. The demands of parenthood and the medical profession combined are enough to drive any normal person insane. Nurses have some mechanism that turns off the crazy reflex and somehow we manage. But even  nurses have a breaking point. Don’t forget that. Don’t give more than you can. Say no sometimes.  It’s ok. I promise! They won’t take your stethoscope away or anything.

In order to keep my sanity I’ve determined that its a necessity to take time for myself everyday. It may not be alot. Heck, some days its only 5 minutes that I can sneak into bathroom.  Actually, my husband tends to hide in the bathroom for hours a day… at least it appears that way. He goes in there in the morning and comes out sometime in the evening. I don’t get it… is there like a Vortex or something in there? Because surely it doesn’t take that long to do whatever it is he could possibly be doing in there… but I digress.

What do I do with my 5 minutes to myself?

Honestly?

iPhone games…

Yep I’m a nerd. A big huge nerd. And sometimes all I want to to throw birds disgruntled birds at green, sometimes extremly resilient, pigs.

But my even guiltier pleasure.. Coin Frenzy. I can’t explain it. In fact, its probably one of the stupidests games ever, but oh how envigorating it is to get the wall up bonus and knock down about 15 coins at a time. Best time out ever!

After I’ve snuck in my moments of iDelight, the day doesn’t seem as demanding. The needs around me appear to be met more easily and I feel I can better take care of my family and my commitments.

But I know if the stress of the world becomes too much I always have those those birds to fling.

What do you do, you know, for that 5 minute vacation? And don’t cop out with the Snicker’s response!

Related articles

• Tips on Taking Time For Yourself Each Day, Even When There’s None to Spare (meghankharvey.wordpress.com)
• For SAHMS: Tips on Taking Time For Yourself (mrsmogul.blogspot.com)

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