61. You Are More Than a Diagnosis: Reclaiming Your Identity for World Mental Health Day

In honor of World Mental Health Day, Jenny gets real about the mental load caregivers carry — and why self-care is not selfish. Whether you’re a nurse, family caregiver, or simply navigating your own mental health challenges, this episode is a compassionate and empowering reminder: you are more than your struggles.

Jenny reflects on her 20-year journey in hospice care and shares insights on identity, burnout, and how to reconnect with what makes you you. If you’ve ever felt weighed down by your role or identified too closely with a diagnosis, this is the message you need to hear.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to separate your identity from a diagnosis
• Why caregiving roles often lead to unacknowledged burnout
• The slippery slope of self-neglect (and how to reverse it)
• How to bring the right parts of yourself to the forefront
• What you can do this week to nurture your mental health

🎧 Listen now and share this with someone who needs a reminder that their story isn’t over.

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 

Feeling stressed? Grab my quick and easy Busy Nurses' Guide to Less Stress for practical stress relief that truly fits into your life! https://www.jennylytle.com/guide

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

Chapters

• 0:58 Setting the Mental Health Focus
• 1:34 Beyond Labels and Identity
• 2:33 Shifting Attention to What Helps
• 4:14 Lessons From Caregiving and Hospice
• 5:37 Turning Struggles into Compassion
• 6:28 Self-Care Reminder and Close

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:29

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Nurses Break Room with Jenny Little RN. We're going to be focusing on mental health because October 10th is World Mental Health Day. And there's a lot of talk about mental health these days, much more so than there used to be. And so I think that's a positive thing, and it's helping to decrease the stigma to a certain extent, but it's also something that can sometimes be very casually thrown out there with different mental health challenges that people are having. And sometimes some of us can tend to identify with maybe a particular mental health diagnosis and really take that on as a huge part of our identity. And I'm not saying that that's necessarily wrong, but it's just something to consider, regardless of what types of mental or physical illnesses or attributes we may have, we're so much more than that. We're more than just one piece of ourselves, more than one diagnosis, more than one set of circumstances. We're very complex individuals. And so as we're approaching World Mental Health Day, I encourage you to think about what is it that makes you you? What are the things that you know help your mental health that make you feel stronger, make you feel more at peace with yourself and within your body, versus the things that you know make you kind of feel like you're struggling or like you're not measuring up. And figuring out how can some of those things that you know help you, that you know make you feel better about yourself, how can some of those things be put on the forefront instead of focusing on the challenges and the struggles that you're having? The reality is we all have struggles. We all have things that we're going through, and sometimes more than others. But when we get so wrapped up in all of the things that maybe we wish were different or that aren't going the way we would like them to, then that can be kind of a slippery slope. And so I just encourage you to think about the things that maybe you've faced and come through on the other side of the lessons you've learned, the people that you've met that maybe you wouldn't have met if it weren't for some of the challenges that you've had. As a nurse, I have encountered many people with multiple physical and mental health challenges, and I faced some of my own. And at the time I'm recording this, today is 20 years ago since I officially started my hospice career. I started my first hospice job 20 years ago today, and there were definitely some mental health challenges that have gone along with that. And I took a step back from it for a while, and now I work in a different capacity than I used to. But when we are in caregiving roles, whether that be professionally, you know, if you happen to be a nurse or a doctor or an aide or somebody working, you know, in other healthcare professional roles, or if you're in a family caregiver role, where maybe you're caring for parents or children or siblings that are needing your assistance, those are things that can weigh really heavily on us. And sometimes we have a tendency to kind of stuff those things down over and over, and then eventually it's going to catch up with us. And so that's why I'm so passionate about being able to speak up and do the things that we need to do to take care of ourselves, because it's really the only way that we're able to continue to care for others. So this week, if you're somebody that does have some mental health struggles, then maybe think about the things that you've learned from that. Maybe it's increased compassion or empathy for other people. Maybe it's learning that some things that maybe seem innocent to some people can be hurtful. And so you're more careful not to say those kind of things. And maybe think of a way that you can share what you've learned with others this week. Not in a holier than now or I've got it all figured out kind of way, but just as a way of sharing your humanness and sharing what your experiences have taught you and encourage other people to do the same. Until next time, remember self care isn't selfish. It's the only way we can continue to care for others and live our best lives. Have a great week.