As a nurse, you’ve got a super stressful job.
You constantly need to be on the go, caring for your patients, assisting doctors, and making sure that your facility is running smoothly.
And all of this busy ‘business’ takes a toll.
As a nurse, it’s incredibly important to make sure to take time for yourself, to help you achieve a bit of that ‘work-life balance’ that people so often talk about—and yet, that oftentimes seems super elusive for nurses.
In this blog post, you’re going to learn about 5 of the most important benefits of taking time for yourself and engaging in a bit of self-care.
You may feel like taking time for yourself is time wasted—but it’s not.
And these 5 benefits will tell you why.
1. Less Stress
First of all, taking time away from work for yourself, to achieve a better work-life balance, will empower you to dissolve stress and achieve a greater state of happiness and stress-free living.
Stress is a natural state for humans to exist in for very short periods of time. But humans didn’t evolve to constantly feel stressed—and it really takes its toll on us.
Thus, taking time for yourself and engaging in some stress-reduction techniques is an awesome way to help keep your body, mind, and soul just a little bit healthier every single day.
2. Less Burnout
Burnout is a real issue for nurses.
In fact, according to results from a 2020 survey, about two-thirds of nurses (approximately 62%) end up experiencing burnout at some point during their careers.
This is especially true for younger nurses under the age of 25.
When you take time for yourself and engage in self-care rituals, however, you help to fortify yourself against burnout—which will help to make your career (and the rest of your life) more enjoyable as a result.
3. More Inner Peace
We all desire inner peace.
We all desire to feel that sense of ‘contentment’ that comes from living a life that’s fulfilling, satisfying, and happiness-inducing.
But when your work-life balance is out of whack, and when you never take time away from work to take care of yourself—well, your inner peace is highly likely to take a nose-dive.
It’s also important that you protect yourself from suffering from the danger of losing your ability to work (for example, with proper nursing malpractice insurance).
This blend of emotional, physical, and mental inner peace will bring you a great sense of relief in your life, and help you to relax a bit more.
And that’s most definitely a good thing.
4. Better Mental Health
If you want your mental health to stay as good as possible, it’s incredibly important to actively maintain it.
And guess what?
Nothing will help you to maintain your emotional and mental health better than making sure that you take time away from work to care for yourself, thus achieving that critical work-life balance.
Nurses who fail to take this necessary time for themselves are likely going to suffer in the mental health department.
And that’s not a good thing.
5. More Emotional Security
We all crave emotional security.
We all want to know that we’re going to be able to live, work, play, and exist another day.
We all want to feel those good feelings of peace that come from looking forward into the future, and feeling like there’s hope for a happy tomorrow.
And guess what?
Stress, burnout, and poor mental health all work directly against this.
Thus, why it’s so critical to make sure that you take the necessary time off of work—to really do things for yourself and to take care of your own health and happiness.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as a nurse, taking time for yourself and engaging in self-care activities are both crucial steps to take for your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
The benefits of achieving a better work-life balance through self-care practices are many. You’ll experience reduced stress, decreased burnout, more inner peace, improved mental health, and an increased sense of emotional security.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that time spent on self-care is a waste, but we urge you NOT to tall into this way of thinking.
In reality, it’s a massive investment in your own health and happiness, which will ultimately benefit not just you, but also your patients and the people around you.
So, take some time for yourself, and prioritize your own self-care.
You deserve it, and it absolutely matters!
