22. Beyond Multitasking: How to Maximize Your Self-Care with Personalization

In this episode of The Nurses' Breakroom, I share practical, quick, and simple self-care strategies for nurses, doctors,  social workers, home health aides, medical assistants, and others in the healthcare field who face high levels of stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Many of us in healthcare give so much of ourselves that we feel there’s no time left for self-care. But what if taking better care of yourself didn’t require a lot of time? In this episode, we explore effective ways to recharge even on a tight schedule, like tapping into activities that sparked joy when we were younger and combining self-care practices to target multiple needs—physical, mental, and emotional—all at once.

Learn how to identify what truly energizes you and simple methods for incorporating personalized self-care into a busy routine, so you can reduce stress and avoid burnout. Whether you’re a healthcare worker struggling with constant stress, a family caregiver, or anyone in need of relief from overwhelming demands, this episode will help you prioritize yourself. I also discuss practical self-care strategies like solo activities that allow you to recharge quickly, ways to leverage nature to boost your mood, and building meaningful interactions into your day to feel less alone in your journey.

By the end, you’ll have concrete ideas for creating a realistic self-care plan tailored to your life, so you can continue to make a positive impact without sacrificing your well-being.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or like there’s never enough time, I’ve got something just for you! Head to https://selfcareisntselfish.com to grab your FREE copy of my book, Self-Care Isn’t Selfish: The Compassionate Nurse’s Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you prioritize your needs—without guilt—so you can feel energized, focused, and ready to take on the day. Go to https://selfcareisntselfish.com 

Looking for connection with people who get the stress and self-care struggles of nurses and caregivers? Check out https://thenursesbreakroom.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylytlern/

More ways to connect here: https://linktr.ee/jennylytle

Transcript

Jenny: 0:29

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Nurses' Break Room with Jenny Lytle RN. This week we're going to be talking about oOnly you. What will maximize your impact? Last week we focused on confidence and the things that light you up, and this week we're going to take that a step further, looking at the ways you can really make a difference to your stress levels and your self-care in a short amount of time, by personalizing your self-care plan, for instance.

Jenny: 0:59

When I was young, I loved to play things like hospital and school and bank. I enjoyed the work, part of those things, but what I really enjoyed was the people and the way they interacted with each other. So a friend and I would take turns being the banker or the customer, or sometimes both of us would be working at the bank and there would be an imaginary customer and I remember we had, for whatever reason, a customer named Roger, and Roger was sometimes a little bit inappropriate and we had to keep him in line and it was just one of those things where our imaginations were able to run wild, and we can do that when we're younger, but then, as we get older, it doesn't always continue that way, but it was a fun outlet. It was a way to enjoy each other's company and to just get our minds thinking in ways that they wouldn't normally be thinking. So, thinking back, it may be very different things that you like to do when you were growing up, but just look back at the things that you did enjoy when you were younger, when you were free of all the responsibilities that you likely have now, and then figure out how to get some of that back, that feeling of joy and lack of worry over whether or not you're doing things the right way, or comparing yourselves to others or worrying about what you're going to look like, just doing the things that you like.

Jenny: 2:25

For me, that's been doing some creative things that before I had not really been that comfortable with. Like, I am not incredibly artistic and I thought that meant that I wasn't creative, but those are two different things. I really can't paint well, but I've done some Bob Ross classes that have been fun and they haven't turned out awful and I've really enjoyed the process of it and stepping into something new, something that is uncomfortable for me no-transcript and I am somebody that likes to do things well. I'm an achiever, and so doing something knowing that it's not going to be perfect is a bit of a challenge, but it's also a great exercise for me and I found that the more that I do things like that, the more that I do something and just enjoy the process and know that it's not something that I'm probably going to be a superstar at. It makes it easier to continue to do that and to not worry so much about is this done perfectly. So that's just a little side note there, but I do enjoy writing and doing things creatively in that way and figuring out how to best reach out to people and connect with them. So it's looking at our own unique gifts and talents and pulling those things together and being able to combine them in a way that allows you to hit multiple areas and do that in a short time and with as little effort as possible areas, and do that in a short time and with as little effort as possible For me.

Jenny: 4:07

I know that I like to be in nature and take pictures and I enjoy walking with others and sharing things with others. So sometimes I do those things together and maybe I'll go for a walk with a friend who knows that my walks aren't just nonstop walks most of the time, and I'll stop and take pictures when something catches my eye. So, doing this, I'm able to have conversation and talk through the things that I'm thinking about and seeing and I'm getting some exercise, I'm out in nature, I'm taking some fun pictures and I'm filling multiple buckets and what I'm doing is really grouping those activities. Now, sometimes, absolutely it's fine to just do one thing and do that calmly and peacefully. And I'm not saying that you need to be constantly multitasking, even when it comes to your self-care, and we know that multitasking really doesn't do a whole lot. Actually it slows us down. But these are areas that, because they're different and they're using different parts of our mind and body, that pulling all of that together is a bit of multitasking that actually can be effective, because sometimes when we're out moving, that really gets some of those things that are stuck in our heads unstuck. I have even done some coaching calls where both of us are walking and moving through things and we're on the phone and able to do some coaching sessions that way, where we're not in person, we're not on zoom, we're not able to see each other, but just talking with each other, and coaching that way is something that can be effective because it allows things to get unstuck. So back to the multitasking. It's more combining and overlapping and just maximizing the impact than it is true multitasking.

Jenny: 6:01

Now, when you're thinking about these things, figure out what is it that you need. Do you need some time for yourself, and if so, what does that look like for you? What is something that would really make you think, oh, that felt great. And that may be sitting and reading a book or taking a bubble bath. It also could be that it's just going for a drive by yourself or going out to eat by yourself, or maybe it's that you could use some interaction, and if so, then figuring out ways to incorporate that.

Jenny: 6:36

Now, especially if you're having a tough time, it's easy for the people in our circle to be in that same headspace or to be really supportive of us in a way that we bleed our emotions onto each other, and so it's great to be able to vent and get things out, but make sure that you're trying to keep that open and honest, but also somewhat focused on keeping things positive and directed toward improving some of the outcomes that we can. Now I know some situations are just really crappy situations and there's not a way to put a pretty bow on it. I'm not talking about those type of things, but it's just easy to get to A place where we're venting and venting and then we just keep coming up with negative things. So I know I just came back from a girls weekend and we had a nice combo of the two Celebrating things, griping about some things that we're comfortable sharing with each other and it's important to have that but then bringing it back to the things that are going really well in our lives and some of the things that we could do to make the other things go a little better.

Jenny: 7:52

There's some things that we can't change in our lives and some of the things that we could do to make the other things go a little better. There's some things that we can't change in our lives, some circumstances that we can't change, but we can maybe change our approach to it or the level of time and effort that we put into that. Just being cognizant of those things, just being cognizant of those things. So next week we are going to be focusing on meaning and what would make life feel meaningful. So I hope that you will tune back in then and make sure, if you haven't checked out my book yet check it out. It's Self-Care Isn't Selfish the Compassionate Nurse's Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief, and it's available in Kindle paperback and a large print hardcover on Amazon. And soon there's going to be an audiobook and also a companion guide, a kind of workbook slash journal in the works. So until next time, remember self-care isn't selfish. It's essential if we want to continue to care for others and live our best lives.