How to Create Your Dream Life Without Quitting Your Nursing Career feat. Karen Doiron

December 6, 2023 Bridgyoto .

When you’re deep in the trenches, and it feels like there’s no way out, getting away from bedside nursing often feels like the one and only path that could possibly save you — and trust me, I understand that feeling to my core — but to be clear, it’s not the only path.

You can create your dream life and career without quitting and running from the bedside as fast as possible.

Right now, it might feel impossible. I get that. I’ve been there.

Getting away from bedside nursing isn’t necessarily the solution you’re looking for — and I’ll tell you why.

I know sometimes (or maybe all the time) you feel like your career is all-consuming and leaves little room for pursuing your dreams and passions outside of work.

But the truth is, you don’t have to give up your nursing career to create your dream life, and if you’re looking to run away from your nursing career and don’t develop healthy coping mechanisms and a plan for what you really want to achieve, then you run the risk of repeating the same outcome in your next role.

With the right mindset and strategies, you can realign your habits and priorities to achieve the work-life harmony you desire and the energy to pursue your passions.

I connected with Karen, a fellow nurse in business, and we chatted about strategies nurses can use to realign their mindset and habits and create the life they’ve always wanted without quitting their nursing career.

When getting away from bedside nursing feels like the only solution…

Define your dream life & inspire a growth mindset.

It sounds so freaking cliché, and I almost hate saying it, but…the first step towards creating your dream life is defining what a “dream life” really means to you.

Take time to reflect on what you want to prioritize, and set achievable goals that align with your definition of a dream life. Whether it’s spending more time with family, traveling the world, or pursuing a passion project, identifying what matters most to you is the key to living your best life.

Again, I’m at risk of sounding like a broken record here, but one of the most important things you can do to create your dream life as a nurse is to develop a growth mindset. A growth mindset is the belief that your abilities and resilience can be developed through hard work, persistence, and a willingness to learn. With a growth mindset, you can overcome setbacks and challenges, embrace new opportunities, achieve your goals, and build a life you love, all without running from bedside nursing.

To develop a growth mindset, start by embracing challenges and seeing them as opportunities to grow and learn. Instead of giving up or shutting down when faced with a difficult task, approach it with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn. Seek out feedback and constructive criticism, and use it to improve your skills and abilities.

Practice self-reflection and goal-setting. Take time to reflect on your habits, strengths, and weaknesses, and set achievable goals that align with your values, passions, and energy level because we all know we’re out here being sleep-deprived AF and just doing the best we can. 😜

Create work-life harmony & learn how to integrate your career into your dream life.

(I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear “work-life balance,” I have this entirely irrationally negative response. I can’t really explain it, only that it genuinely isn’t a phrase I say in real life because of that. So, I’ll say “work-life harmony” because somehow that sounds better in my head, but you can totally switch out harmony with balance when you’re reading this if that’s what you prefer… 😆)

Creating work-life harmony is essential for the nurses at the bedside who are in the midst of the hard stuff and are currently making their get-away plan at 2 AM in between patient care.

Work-life harmony is about learning how to incorporate your career into the rest of your life, not the other way around. It’s about self-evaluating your own energy and habits to harmoniously weave together all the different aspects of your life so you can feel a wholeness even when things are challenging.

One strategy is to practice effective time management at work and in your personal life. Prioritize your tasks and responsibilities, and delegate tasks when possible. Use tools like calendars and to-do lists to stay organized and on track. Limit distractions like social media and email during your off-hours so you can focus on the things that really light you up. It may also mean being flexible and adaptable and finding creative solutions to unexpected challenges.

Set healthy boundaries and implement a self-care routine. Communicate your needs and limits to your inner circle, and say no to additional responsibilities when necessary. By setting boundaries, you can protect your time and energy and ensure you have the space to practice self-care, rest and recharge, engage in activities or hobbies that bring you joy and fulfillment, and create the life you want.

Pursue what lights you up.

Of course, balancing work and personal life can be a challenge and certainly can make you feel like getting away from bedside nursing is the ONLY solution — and I’ll admit, it might be because some jobs are truly toxic, but there are also might be another way, a way that truly creates your dream life.

Pursuing your passions and creating your dream life outside of your nursing career is possible. Especially when you’re feeling burnt out in your career, exploring the things that light you up is crucial.

Pursuing activities or hobbies that bring you joy can profoundly impact your overall well-being and job satisfaction. Burnout can leave you feeling drained, unmotivated, and disengaged from your work, and like getting away from bedside nursing is the only way out — hopefully, this blog post inspires you not to do that, yet, at least. 😅

When you’re feeling burnt out, stressed, and overwhelmed, it can be challenging to see beyond your current circumstances. But by dedicating time to the things that bring you happiness, you can boost your mood, increase your energy levels, and reduce stress. Exploring new interests can help you gain a fresh perspective and identify areas where you can leverage your skills and talents in new and inspiring ways.

Many nurses have successfully started side hustles or businesses, pursued further education, or developed new skills and interests while still working as a bedside nurse — so as much as it might feel impossible, it really is possible with the right mindset, resources, and support.

Pursuing the things that light you up can be freeing because it can help you overcome burnout and find greater satisfaction and fulfillment in your career. By prioritizing your well-being and exploring new avenues for growth, you can reignite your passion and motivation for your work and build a more fulfilling career.

Achieving your dream life is possible, even while maintaining your nursing career. But at the end of the day, you are the only one who can take action to make a difference in your life and career.

What’s one way you can take action?

Investing in a coach to help you dig deep and get to the heart of things!

Connecting with Karen Doiron, The Rest RN, and Why She Coaches Fellow Nurses

How did you become a nurse, and what made you decide to become a freelancer/business owner?

I have an interesting path to nursing. My first college degrees are in French and International Relations, but I didn’t follow that career path for many reasons. Instead, I found myself in fundraising and marketing for a Cancer Center. It was a smaller facility, so I got to work closely with nurses and providers on patient education and support services. We had to job shadow as part of our employee engagement program, and they put me with nurses. I loved it! A lightbulb went on for me as I watched the nurses, and I realized how nursing would be a really good fit for me. And I already had a heart for oncology. So I went back to school. I’m part of a Medical Oncology unit at my local hospital.

I decided to start developing my coaching business about 4 years ago out of a desire to address the extreme stress and burnout I was seeing in myself and my colleagues. For me, starting my business didn’t come from a place of wanting to leave the bedside. It developed because I love the bedside so much, and I saw the gap in support for nurses in stress management and healthy habits. It’s so hard to take care of yourself as a nurse. I was curious about how to address that issue for myself and other nurses.

What are some common objections you hear about working with a health coach?

#1: “I know what I need to do. I just need to do it,” or “I’m going to try it on my own for a while.”

The thing is, if we had the skills and energy to do it consistently on our own, we would be doing it already. If being healthy and being a nurse was simply a matter of willpower, we wouldn’t have the epidemic of burnout and trouble with retaining nurses at the bedside.

Coaching is not as much about information as much as it’s about IMPLEMENTATION. And as a coach, I understand how to help my clients build habits that work WITH their lifestyle and help them get through what’s always stopped them in the past.

I spent over a decade struggling through my own chronic stress cycle and health problems.

That’s a long time.

Did I figure it out mostly on my own? Yes.

Would I want to do that again? No. It was miserable.

Once I discovered health coaching and learned the importance of getting personalized support, I really started to create transformation in my life. Quickly, easily and sustainably. Why suffer for longer when you don’t have to? Time is precious.

#2: “I don’t have the time or energy to commit to one more thing.”

Coaching is the one thing that will make everything else that’s going on in your life easier because you learn how to advocate for yourself and create actual change in your habits. All while being supported and encouraged.

You show up to your coaching session, and I get to take care of YOU. The work happens during the call, and my job is to make change easy, simple, and fun. You get to solve the problems that are keeping you up at night. You get to decrease your stress. You get to gain energy and improve your health through simple habit shifts. You learn what you can say “no” to and how to let go of that which is no longer serving you and is draining your precious energy.

So yes, it takes intention and commitment to be coached. But the time and energy you put into it just comes back to you in so many ways. Your health and well-being is your most valuable investment.

How do you address a nurse who feels lost in their career?

So, right now, my business is about developing personalized connections with nurses to create stress management and emotional resilience plans that work for them and help them make the transformation they’re looking for in a supportive environment.

We all have different things that are important to us. So, my coaching isn’t a one-size-fits-all program but contains an overall pathway and core teachings to help everybody. I coach and look at everything for my clients through the lens of their stress response.

Together, we’ll look at how your general wellness is affected by your stress response and how all the multi-faceted parts of your life are involved, so we’ll look at your nutrition, eating habits, sleeping habits, movement/exercise routine, etc. In the coaching process, we look at everything that’s important in your overall health, not just your career.

Then, as you build your capacity to address and regulate your stress and nervous system, you can learn how to make decisions from a place of rest. It is from this restful space that your brain can be more engaged and access creative solutions.

When we’re in that stress state, and we make decisions based on that stress, then usually we’re just running away from those symptoms instead of addressing the core issues, which we see a lot in nurses who are trying to get away from the bedside because they feel trapped in their stress.

Of course, I don’t blame those nurses for wanting to run away. I get it. I’ve been there. But if you’re just running away, and you haven’t built the skills to manage your stress response or understand what was really hard for you in that job, then you’re probably going to bring those same patterns with you to a new job.

When you’re in that stress state, you tend to disengage and shut down your emotions — sometimes because it’s convenient and sometimes because of the nature of your job — regardless, I work with my clients to reconnect to what they’re really feeling to be able to make better decisions for themselves and create a life they love.

Why do you believe coaching is important/transformational?

Coaching is important because it helps you actually implement the changes you want to see in a sustainable way, and it helps you take action and move forward. It’s a process of seeing things differently and being able to implement things differently in a creative but practical way.

On paper, I have assessments I do with my clients so we can see tangible progress. The client will take my stress and well-being assessment at the beginning of the program and do them intermittently to look at different parts of their life and show them how their stress is showing up.

As my clients’ coach, I can also hold them accountable for their goals. I meet with my clients once a week and will also check in with them throughout the week if needed. I am available to support them in their journey and help them get unstuck so they can see real change in their life.

What advice do you have for nurses starting on their own entrepreneurial journey?

Nurses are amazing entrepreneurs. And we are uniquely positioned and skilled to create amazing change in healthcare and our communities. Have confidence in your dream. There’s a huge learning curve, so give yourself time and patience. Find good mentors to learn what you need to learn about business.

You need to believe deeply in your purpose and be in it for the long game. Building a business has lots of ups and downs. Be aware of the people online who make it sound like nurses can get into coaching and instantly replace their nursing salaries.

Success is possible, but it's important to honor that everyone’s path and pace are different. As a nurse, you have an amazing, multi-faceted set of skills and insights thanks to your training and experience. Own your genius.

Karen Doiron, RN, is a health coach who is passionate about helping nurses transform from exhausted to energized. As The Rest RN, she empowers nurses to conquer stress, revitalize their passion for nursing, and achieve the ideal work-life balance through personalized wellness habits. Find her on her website, LinkedIn, or Facebook.

SDN