When you were 7 or 8, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a nurse. Nurses were glamorous – they wore white uniforms with matching white shoes and hats, and I was convinced that’s what I’d be. It wasn’t long before I was on to the next thing I wanted to be – a veterinarian, then a pilot, then a performer – and the idea of being a nurse was as over and done with as an outgrown pair of shoes.
Thankfully for us all, real nurses weren’t as mercurial as I was in their pursuit of a career. Thankfully for us all, once they decided on nursing as a profession, they schooled and trained and worked their way into a career that’s probably more like a calling for them than a job. The work is hard, the hours are long, the patients are often surly, and yet they maintain their professional demeanor and take care of their patients, whether those patients are human or companion animal.
This week is a trifecta of nursing holidays – it’s Pediatric Nurses Week, Emergency Nurses Week, and Veterinary Technicians Week. Vet techs are also known as veterinary nurses, and they perform many of the same functions that nurses with human patients perform. All these nurses have one major thing in common: they never know what they’re walking into when they show up for work. Each day is filled with some of the same tasks, and a few routine things that need to be taken care of, along with a lot of situations that are “drop everything, respond quickly and effectively” emergencies.
That’s a tough way to work! We can learn a lot from watching how nurses handle themselves in a crisis. If you need some inspiration, here are three episodes of the world’s second-shortest podcast, the Wellbeing Wisdom Tiny Bites podcast, with tools you can easily put to use. Each episode is 90 seconds or less long, so if you have 4.5 minutes, you can hear all three right now.
Want to handle a crisis like a nurse? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
Want help focusing on life’s magic? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
In a rough spot in your life and need focus? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
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If you know a nurse, this would be a good week to surprise them with a token of your appreciation for the work they do. If you are a nurse, thank you so much for putting up with humans or animals when they’re at their worst – painful, cranky, and afraid. You’re a far better nurse than I ever would have been…thank you!
Wags,
Sandy Weaver
The Voice of Wagaliciousness
PS...want more? Subscribe to the Mind, Body, Soul Sessions podcast, a weekly mental spa treatment for your total self!
