Vacation

I’m back from vacation.  I don’t want to be, but I am.  I had a great time with Father who was visiting from out of town.  Went to see the Colorado Rockies play, took my daughter to the zoo and even saw a parade.  But, most importantly, I didn’t miss work one little bit.
Manager are normally on call 24/7, so any time a manager can take off their pager, turn it off and put it away is a great time.  This time was no different.  When I left work on Wednesday, turned off my pager and put it up for the weekend, I was in heaven.

The problem I had this week was I ate too much.  I have worked very hard over the past 4 months to get into shape……at least a little less round shape.  But this week while I thought I had no worries, I ate and ate and ate.  And to top it off, I didn’t exercise either.  Not only was vacation from work, but apparently from my health as well.

What does this have to do with nursing or management, well nothing.  But I do want to stress how important it is for nurses to take care of themselves.  We have a tendency to worry about our patients and families, but almost always treat ourselves terrible.  We eat terrible when we actually have time to take a lunch break.  We rush though that lunch break.  And then after a 12 hour shift, who feels like going to the gym and exercise?

If we don’t take care of ourselves, not only will we suffer, but we will not be able to provide the appropriate care to our patients.

I can’t wait until my next vacation.