There was a mushroom in my meal at a nice restaurant in San Fransisco at the beginning of my birthday weekend in wine country. The lightheaded, tired sensation which begins my reaction came quickly. I have a chronic mold allergy which is managed well unless an unforeseen exposure to fungi occurs. So annoying. Some explosivesContinue reading “Excellence Rewritten”
Category Archives: Balance
Resiliency in Efficiency
“Resilience” has been the buzz word for 2021, at least in my world. I spent the year learning about and working through my own understanding about resilience. As I dove deeper into the discussion, my ears would perk up anytime I heard even a faint whisper of the topic. This past fall I discovered someContinue reading “Resiliency in Efficiency”
Prioritizing Relationships
Prioritizing relationships…what does this mean? It means whomever you value the most is who should be prioritized in your life. These are the people you would talk to every day while you are on vacation, for example, your children, your spouse and your besties. Research has shown we are unable to have more than aContinue reading “Prioritizing Relationships”
Who We Are and the Voices We Listen To
Last blog I talked about how I was seeing resiliency in a whole new light. It’s not just about habits and self care. I believe, while all these things help, it’s about who we are as a whole. It’s about the emotional, social and physical health of ourselves. The world we encompass, whether we areContinue reading “Who We Are and the Voices We Listen To”
Resilience in Mothering.
Mothering. It’s hard work. It’s hard when your child needs to wear a mask and he or she keeps pulling it off. (I’m in an airplane as I type this with my girls). It’s hard when they are hungry and you haven’t been to the store in a day, or seven. Mothering is difficult whenContinue reading “Resilience in Mothering.”
Back to the “Why”
An exercise I have done often, and seen done during resiliency workshops, is to review the reasons “why” we do what we do. Why am I a nurse? Why am I an ICU nurse? Why do I choose to work as well as be at home with my girls? For example, a nurse might answerContinue reading “Back to the “Why””
Keeping Life-Giving Routines
One of the ways I recommend finding resilience during stressful situations is through routines. For example, when I experience a difficult shift at work (either I have lost a patient, it was too busy and stressful, or someone was rude) I launch into a specific routine to help me process and find my way backContinue reading “Keeping Life-Giving Routines”
Writing a New Story
As I shared last week, a resilient life is one where stress can be managed at a good baseline. There are seasons where we are more heightened or stressed, but after the season ends, we should be able to return to our former level of stress or something close to it. This can be incrediblyContinue reading “Writing a New Story”
Stress at Baseline
It’s not uncommon as a nurse to bring stress from regular life to work, especially to the first part of a shift. Stress from home, piled on top of an abnormally busy assignment, can cause stress for anyone. To have a patient become critical on top of it all has the potential to push aContinue reading “Stress at Baseline”
The Balance between the To-Do List and Slowing Down
My house is a disaster. The laundry needing to be folded is piling up and the refrigerator is showing evidence that our home is practicing scarcity. My to-do list has been stacking up, but my ability (or inability) to prioritize the next urgent thing takes me further from accomplishing anything on my list. I amContinue reading “The Balance between the To-Do List and Slowing Down”
Stephanie Trowbridge 