It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Fridayyyyy! (anyone else still remember this infamous Rebecca Black song??)
Phew, I am SO glad it’s Friday and am very ready for a fun, relaxing weekend.
Now I won’t lie, my weeks aren’t always crazy busy. I work as a PRN (as needed) mental health nurse from home. So some weeks I have only a couple assignments to help with, but the past couple weeks I have been busy all day, every day.
When I’m not super busy and have a lot of time and breaks through my day I am great about keeping up with things that overall contribute to my mental wellness through the week. I take my vitamins in the morning, I drink lots of water through the day, I get in a walk or get out of the house for something fun or productive.
But when I am busy working from home all day I can tend to be a slacker with my health. In the past I have been awful about skipping meals, not washing my face, not getting dressed or doing any type of hair or makeup that would probably make feel more put together.
This past week I have really tried to improve on this despite work & typical life chaos. And you know what? Even though I am stoked it’s Friday and definitely a bit worn down from the week, I still feel good. I feel healthy, I feel happy, and I feel confident about the work I did. It’s almost like taking care of yourself and prioritizing your health is good for you?!? So what was different this week:
1. Staying on top of meals/snacks and hydration!
I did not let my self skip meals. Even if I had limited time I threw a salad together or I made a point to meal prep overnight oatmal (YUM) so I‘d start off with a solid, but quick, breakfast. And although frequent pee breaks are annoying when you are busy I didn’t let myself slack on drinking water through the day!
2. Keeping a schedule and updating ASAP with updates/changes through the week
Now that I am a remote PRN nurse I am helping cover a few different clinics across various states within our organization. This means coordinating with different treatment teams and many different time zones. I keep an excel calendar with all of the time zones and every assignment/location that I have each day & each hour. I also make sure that if I get an email with a change or new assignment I immediately update my schedule so I don’t miss it or forget.
3. Taking mini mental breaks
This past week I didn’t get a lot of length breaks between meetings/patients. In the past I would maybe use those in between times to look through emails or double check charts. I do still keep up with those things but if I do have 5 minutes here and there and am caught up on my work, I am using that time to laugh at Tik Toks for a few minutes. It gets my mind off work for a bit and lightens up a stressed mood!
4. Setting boundaries
Being PRN I sometimes struggle with saying no to any favor/assignment asked of me. I usually want to get as many hours as I am offered, BUT this past week I was starting to feel overwhelmed by Tuesday. I made a point the rest of the week to not agree to any additional work that I didn’t have ample time to contribute to. This really helped the rest of my week stay busy but manageable.
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