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life

Building a Life you Want

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Build a life you want and save for it. This is a FIRE concept in which you can still prepare to be Financially Independent and Retire Early, while also living a life that you desire.

As nurses, we learn to prioritize. We start our day prioritizing as we choose which patient to see first. We prioritize med passes, delegation, admissions, discharges, and every MD order for each patient that we have in our care.

But, we often do not prioritize ourselves. Some of us go with the flow. Some stay in current jobs for years because it is comfortable or familiar. Others go about their daily routines and only imagine pursuing hobbies or passions and never act on them.

I made a difficult decision to leave a job that I helped create for myself because it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I came home frustrated every day for the 6 months I was trying to make it work. I started to realize that the position may not have been a good fit for my strengths. Sitting at a desk all day waiting on the decisions of others was just not a good fit for a Type A personality, who is used to working an active 12-hr bedside nursing shift. I knew I had to make a change for my mental health, especially considering I did not believe the position would improve for my liking. With change, comes difficult conversations.

Intellectually, I knew that for my mental well-being, I had to leave my newly acquired job. I received an opportunity to teach. A position I thought of years before as I was always more textbook smart than I ever was clinically. I took the chance and this is the best career I have ever been in as an RN. I LOVE disease processes. I LOVE encouraging others. I LOVE speaking. All of my loves and strengths seem to be combined into one position that found me in a time I was seriously struggling. All of these loves, plus a schedule that works for family, hobbies, and voiceover 🙂

I would never have found my place as a nurse if I did not listen to myself or take myself as priority. Now, I am looking forward to furthering my education. I am basing my specific program and university off of what will work with my priorities in life: teaching, voiceover, fitness, and family/friends. Rather than sacrificing any of these loves, I will find a program that fits into my current way of living because that is making myself a priority.

Build a life that you want and save for it.

Until next shift,

Shania

Time, Talent, Treasure

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From a young age, I always valued the concepts of time, talent, and treasure. These three qualities make or break a person’s life and I evaluated them within my own life in order to be successful and to be in a continuous state of growth.

  1. Time is such a valuable resource in the sense that you cannot get it back; it only keeps moving forward. Where you invest your time determines your future. I stated before in previous posts that my biggest fear is wasting my time on things that are unnecessary. Therefore, I make an effort to use my time for productive things, whether that is learning, growing my business, calling my grandmother, going to the gym, cooking a meal, or even watching a show I enjoy.. anything in moderation. I often make a to do list for every day and this helps me stay productive and make sure that I am making the most out of the time I have during the day. Atul Gawande wrote a great book on this topic, The Checklist Manifesto. I highly recommend!
  2. Talent. Talent is tricky because this is where your life purpose or passions come in. It is amazing to me how many people just settle because they don’t want to go out of their comfort zones, experience new things, and find why they are actually here on Earth. A talent isn’t just some child prodigy who wins America’s Got Talent. Talents are the unique qualities and interests that each person has. I enjoy people and helping people live healthier lives, therefore, I became a nurse. The stress and anxiety that comes with working in the hospital allows me to realize that I am not meant to stay in the hospital forever, at least not as my sole income. I also know that I have always loved acting and I am at a point in my life where I can actually pursue it professionally, alongside my nursing job. Talent is what keeps me motivated and reaching for me. As Ronnie Doss says, the comfort zone is the danger zone. It is dangerous to remain stagnant in life and never reaching for more.
  3. Treasure. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Look at your bank statements. Other than bills and living expenses, where do you spend the majority of your money? This reveals what your priorities are. Many times this money goes to food, alcohol, coffee, or toys. What about if much of it was invested, donated, given to others? It is important to be conscious where the excess is going and to monitor the outflow. Money is not inherently bad. So many great things can be done with proper funding. It is how money is used that can lead to trouble.

Where are you investing your time, talent, and treasure?

Until next shift,

Shania

Speak Life: The Power of Words

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“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21 (NIV)

“Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit- you choose.” Proverbs 18:21 (MSG)

Choose Joy. Those two words I wear on my badge every day at the hospital. The most common compliment that I receive is that I am always smiling. The hospital is full of emotional highs and emotional lows. Being a caregiver at the bedside, it is my job to at least look like I am having a good day. A smile can brighten the room, and hospital rooms can be quite dark- both literally and figuratively. From new terminal diagnoses to upcoming procedures, the patient and family are not at their highlights of life. The least I can do is smile, and show genuine compassion.

I choose joy everyday because my patients cannot afford much less. In the midst of low blood sugars, falling blood pressures, calls for pain medications, family phone calls, each patient has the right to be treated individually with kindness, autonomy, and respect.

Whether speaking to yourself or to someone else, the words spoken have either the power to heal or the power to kill. There is a time to be sad and a time to be happy, however words must be carefully thought before they are spoken. Here are a few examples:

  • A doctor rushes into the room to share the plan without asking for any clarification, questions, or concerns. – Speaks death
  • A doctor shares unwanted test results at the bedside at an appropriate time. – Speaks life
  • A prayer before a procedure. – Speaks life
  • A word of encouragement and hope at discharge as a patient transitions to rehab after experiencing deficits from a stroke. – Speaks life
  • A dying patient breathes their last breath after a loved one says that it is okay to go. – Speaks life
  • Nursing retention rates are low at places where bullying is prominent. – Speaks death
  • Powered by People is a service utilized to recognize caregivers by their coworkers for their hard work- Speaks life
  • The minute a person gives up, is the minute their body starts to decline; “I can’t…” – Speaks death
  • You would never speak to someone else like you speak about yourself/ your own abilities. – Speaks death

Are you speaking with kindness today? Do your words speak life into a person or do they speak death? You decide.

Until next shift,

Shania

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615-856-8181
shania@shanialynnvo.com