It’s Sunday.
A time day you should be relaxing and spending time with family.
Instead……
– You are already dreading going to work Monday morning.
– You feel overwhelmed and anxious about what is on your clinic schedule.
– You loath the idea of starting a new week and the overwhelm of your job.
This Sunday stress is common for many burned-out nurse practitioners.
I recently suffered from this Sunday Stress and would like to share how I overcame the overwhelm.
As many nurse practitioners do, on Friday before I left the office, I looked ahead to Monday’s schedule. I noticed an appointment for a newborn. I do not have much experience caring for newborns and felt the imposter syndrome wash over me. I definitely didn’t want to mess up or miss something important.
I spent most of the weekend stressed about the clinic visit Monday.
I missed out on relaxing and quality time with me kids.
Here are a few of the thoughts I used to help calm my nervous.
Why was I feeling so nervous? I took some time to reflect on what was causing my anxious feelings. Like I previously said, I do not have a lot of experience assessing or treating newborns. I had forgotten the important newborn reflexes and what special complications to look for in a newborn.
I also realized that if I did find an abnormal physical finding, I wasn’t really sure where to refer. My fear was related to lack of information. Simply identifying this fear and where it originated from really helped calm my nerves.
What else did I do? I searched the information.
I watched YouTube videos (anyone else found YouTube to be super helpful? Most of the time YouTube was more informative than my textbooks!). I also thought about what collaborations were available to me- I knew I could call the pediatrician’s office if I got really stuck.
And then I chose compassion and empathy. The mother of this baby will probably be just as nervous as I was.
I remember being a first-time mom and all of the stress and fear associated. I decided if anything else, I would be supportive to the mother. Tell her it’s ok to be scared, to not know what the hell you’re doing as a mom, to have someone she can rely on for questions.
I decided the best thing this mother needed for her baby was a provider who was caring. Someone the mother can trust. Empathy and compassion are some of my super powers. I identified what I was good at and focused on the positives.
If you are struggling with the Sunday Stress, take a moment to reflect on where the stress is coming from. Identify why you are feeling the overwhelm. And then focus on what you do know or are good at.
I was able to shift my mindset from fear to excitement and encouragement about the challenge.
For time management and charting tips, check out The Nurse Practitioner Charting School– The one stop for all documentation resources created specifically for nurse practitioners. Learn more at www.npchartingschool.com
**Full disclosure, this blog post may include affiliate links. I do receive a commission if any of the affiliate programs/services/supplies are purchased. This is at no extra cost to you but does allow me to continue to provide content as The Burned-out Nurse Practitioner! Thank you!
**Full disclosure, this blog post may include affiliate links. I do receive a commission if any of the affiliate programs/services/supplies are purchased. This is at no extra cost to you but does allow me to continue to provide content as The Burned-out Nurse Practitioner! Thank you!
