The Ritual Nurse

Wait, what?? I have to look at who?? Debriefing Yourself Series One

• Riva - The Ritual Nurse • Season 1 • Episode 2

Share episode

TXT us your feedback!! <3 your fayce!

This episode encourages nurses to embrace self-debriefing as a tool for emotional healing and resilience. By engaging in mindful reflections and integrating self-care practices, listeners can prioritize their well-being for a fulfilling nursing career.
Plus!! Our first ever Coffee, Crystals, and Divination segment!!! It was so much fun.  
Listen in for:

• The Ritual Nurse blends humor, healing, and mindfulness 
• Introduction to self-debriefing to process trauma and stress 
• Practical exercises for self-awareness and vulnerability 
• Daily challenges aimed at promoting self-care 
• Mindfulness techniques like deep breathing and body scans 
• Community engagement through shared stories and experiences 
• A soothing recipe and crystal prescription for grounding 
• Encouragement for nurses to make themselves a priority

Have an incredible story? Questions? A survival tip? Email us at hello@ritualnurse and tell us! We can’t wait to highlight you. Tap the link above and send me a text! I can’t wait to hear from you. 

Hey! Make sure you subscribe to stay connected. Love a nurse? Who doesn't! Share with all the nurses you know. The more we reach, the more we help. We feel like no one deserves center stage focus more than nurses and our mission is to reach the millions of superstars out there. We'd love to hear your stories, your adventures, your wins, and especially your needs and questions! Email us at hello@ritualnurse (dot) com. Also, you can send us fan mail! Use the link at the beginning of the show notes. Resources, classes, blogs, and podcast info can be found on our home site at TCTH.org. The Ritual Nurse Podcast is part of The Code Team educational platform.

Love your FAYCES!

Riva:

Welcome to the Ritual Nurse, where healing meets humor, science and a touch of magic. Hi, welcome to the next episode of the Ritual Nurse Podcast, where humor, healing and magic intertwine and we make nursing less stressful and way more fulfilling. I'm your host, reva, a nurse who knows all too well what it's like to feel overwhelmed, burned out and underappreciated. That's why I'm here to create a space for us to find peace, purpose and a path forward that allows us to prioritize ourselves. This podcast is different. Here, we believe that healing is both practical and magical. We'll explore new skills, rituals and moments of mindfulness, all tailored to the realities of nursing. So, as this is a brand new pod, let's rehash for any listeners that are just joining us for the first time.

Riva:

So what exactly is the Ritual Nurse Podcast? Well, it's a short form podcast specifically designed for nurses. I know how hard it can be to commit to long form content when you're juggling 12 hour shifts, patient loads and life outside the hospital. That's why each episode is going to be short, sweet and packed with actual advice. Whether you're driving home, grabbing a coffee between shifts or trying to find five minutes to breathe, you can listen to a full episode without feeling like you need to stretch it out over days and lose the thread of what's happening. Each episode is focused on one thing healing. Healing from trauma, stress and burnout that comes with nursing. Professional growth for those periods of stagnation. Personal growth to focus on celebrating the wins and thriving in the areas that matter the most. I'll walk you through mindfulness exercises, debriefing strategies and rituals to help you process those hard shifts, reclaim your mental and emotional energy and set healthy boundaries in your practice. Healthy doses of humor and heartwarming will keep things right where we need them. This podcast will also dive into real life stories and interviews with fellow healthcare professionals and others working in the realms of healing and humor. Together we'll discuss how science and evidence-based practice blend with holistic approaches to create something powerful. As nurses, we walk the line between science and humanity every day and it's time to start developing practices that improve our practice by prioritizing our own health first. Humor and comfort will keep us going together. There will be plenty of laughs, caffeine and all of the shiny crystals slash feel-good items that you need. So today we're diving into the first part of our Debriefing With Yourself series a deeply personal and transformational approach to processing the emotional, mental and physical tolls of nursing.

Riva:

But before we get there, let's start with a quick look at nursing news. So, this being the first week of the new year, I headed into the ANA's online journal of issues in nursing. They're featuring an incredible current topic on reproductive justice, which is as relevant now as ever. Discussion points in the journal cover great topics like reflections on reproductive justice 1989 to 2024, and also intersectionality and feminist theory, a framework for understanding and teaching social construct. Both pieces offer profound insights and a chance for us, as nurses, to reflect on our roles in advocacy and education.

Riva:

I'm not sponsored by any of this and there's not going to be any homework assignments about it either. I just always recommend being a member of at least two professional associations. It's essential to avoid creating an echo chamber of our own implicit biases due to our search tendencies and the algorithms that that creates. Personally, as a critical care nurse, I'm part of the ANA and AACN, but there's so many organizations out there that fit different specialties and interests. Joining a few of them is the best way to get the newest evidence-based practice, and expanding your professional network can challenge you and keep you informed, which is a key step in providing better care. Now, does this mean I don't follow nurses on social media? Of course not. Get real. I love Nurse John, nurse Blake, nurse Hadley and Nurse Jen Hamilton, but you have to balance that with science, peer-reviewed research, evidence-based practice. They would tell you the exact same thing.

Riva:

So let's move into our main topic, which is debriefing with yourself. So this series is about empowering you to process the weight of your work in a way that is compassionate and sustainable. So in part one, right now, we're going to focus on creating intentional space for your emotions and thoughts through focused reflection. We've kind of hinted at this during the week in between episode one and now with our self-care challenge that you can find on our Instagram and our Facebook. So there was a seven day and a five day that you could choose from for that first week, and the point was to choose one of those and fill out the bingo cards associated with them and the daily steps and then, after episode two, switch to doing a second week.

Riva:

So if you did the five-day challenge the first week, you would do the seven-day challenge the second week, and the bingo cards were really neat. They had very easy to access and easy to contemplate items on them, like meditating for five minutes creating a new playlist, taking a walk in nature, spending some alone time, creating a mood board, making sure you're hydrated, drinking enough water, and the daily challenges. For example, some of the ones on the seven day relax with a full length spa routine, taking the time to cook a healthy dinner, get off social media for the day, declutter a space like your room or your closet. The five day was a little bit shorter and had some really cool features, like day one write down what you love about you. Day two create a happiness playlist. Day five approach your problem with mindfulness. So those are really fun challenges, very easy to do, no cost involved. Even when it comes to the spa day, you can do that right at home with all of the ingredients and access to things that you have at home. But they were hinting at turning the focus towards self and providing self-care.

Riva:

So debriefing with yourself starts, like I said, with the ability to be self-aware, and this process doesn't have to be perfect. Be self-aware and this process doesn't have to be perfect. It's about giving yourself permission to name and hold space for your experiences. So part of developing this skill is intentionally crafting a space that you feel okay to be vulnerable in and drop the barriers that we normally have up for protection against the things we are constantly exposed to Great Lots of mouth words. The heck does this look like, sister? Let me tell you so. For some people, this may be crafting a 10-minute space after a hot shower and before going to sleep, where you have no demands or distractions. For others, this may be the hot shower on the way to bed, using the water as a somatic device to get physically in touch with your body and how you're feeling.

Riva:

Now, whether you write, speak digitally, take notes or make origami, that is up to you. But the next part is going to take some practice. But it's necessary to learn the skill of self-awareness and separate it from self-evaluation. So what the heck does that mean? Okay, it means cut the judgment out, just follow along and watch for that inner voice to speak up. Suddenly You're going to make a shift, debrief on yourself, four questions and a somatic exercise 10 minutes or however long it takes you.

Riva:

But warning, this is not a strict journaling exercise. This is connecting body and emotion and letting the mind observe it, while staying non-reactive and non-judgmental. So the focus isn't on journaling for extended periods of time like freeform journaling or word flow. You are guiding this intentional reflection in a space that you have created just for this purpose. So, in the interest of being able to do this daily and begin to make it habitual as well as impactful, keeping it to a focus of about 10 minutes or so allows you to stay focused, to stay intent and for it not to be overwhelming, because, in our current emotional states, for many of us overwhelming, because in our current emotional states, for many of us, contemplating, doing something that may seem overwhelming or have the perception of possibly being overwhelming, or adding too much to our emotional load, may be something that we shy away from or that we won't attempt or be consistent with. So the idea here is to strike and find that perfect balance between what is achievable and what you can be consistent with. And again, this process is not and does not have to be perfect. It's all about giving yourself permission to hold space for those experiences and, however that works out, no one's going to be grading this, no one's going to be evaluating it. In fact, that's the exact opposite of its intended purpose. So what are some examples?

Riva:

So, for the four questions, here's a set of four questions that would make a great journaling exercise for this mindfulness point. The first one would be what went well today. The second one, what challenged me today. The third, how did I respond to stress? And the fourth, what emotions am I feeling right now? Now I want you to think back on the questions that I just said and look at how they're phrased. The questions didn't ask what did I do well today, what didn't I do well today, because those are judgmental. These questions are objective, simply, what went well today, or what challenged challenged me today, how did I respond to stress, and what emotions am I feeling right now? And the objectivity is very, very important. So if you're going to craft different questions, please pay attention to the structure and the style and keep it non-judgmental and objective.

Riva:

Then you're going to do a body scan exercise, so a quick three to five minute somatic practice that's going to identify areas of tension or stress and this is going to help you connect to your physical state after having just identified situations that you experienced, current emotions that you're feeling, and then the physical state that is associated with that discovery. It's all about observation. You're going to observe and describe. So you're going to observe your thoughts, your emotions and your bodily sensations without any judgment, and that's going to set the foundation for mindful awareness. And then, after you've done that, you're going to set it down and the exercise is over. Ruminating further on it leads you into the territory of evaluation and judgment and passing judgment on yourself, and we're avoiding that. The whole exercise is supposed to just be objective. So awareness is the first step towards transformation.

Riva:

When we give ourselves the gift of reflection, we begin to see the patterns that shape our daily lives. So as we start to connect our thoughts, our emotions and our bodily sensations without any judgment, and we tie those to the events that we have experienced during the day, we begin to develop the ability to be self-aware in the context of the things that surround us and how it affects us. So this might feel uncomfortable, yes, it might feel uncomfortable, but that's okay, because growth often is, and, trust me, the more you do this, the easier it becomes to identify what is affecting you and why, and without judgment. Before we take a break, I want to leave you with this. So reflecting on your day is not about judging yourself, like we've said ad nauseum so far, or fixing anything. This isn't a to-do list. It's just about understanding and holding compassion for yourself, exactly the way that you would for a patient or a colleague.

Riva:

When we go through debriefing at the end of a shift, we don't look at each other with judgment or the situation with judgment, situation with judgment. We look at it with analytical observation, and that is exactly the same type of debriefing process you're going to do with yourself when you observe and simply describe your thoughts, emotions and your bodily sensations without any judgment and place those in the context of the things that you experienced during the day. All right, so we are approaching our mid-episode break. So if you've got to head back on the floor, need to warm up your coffee, or if you just want to keep listening, either way, take a moment to pause, stretch, grab a sip of your favorite drink and when we come back, we're going to dive into the somatic and mindful practices that are going to help you deepen your self-debriefing process. All right, welcome back.

Riva:

Let's talk about how to connect your body and mind in this self-debriefing journey. Somatic practices can help ground you after a difficult shift. This could be as simple as a deep breathing exercise like box breathing. Box breathing is where you inhale for four counts, you hold for four counts and you exhale for four counts the entire time that you're doing it. You are envisioning a box, let's say in midair, and either a pulse moving around the edges time that you're doing it. You are envisioning a box, let's say in mid-air, and either a pulse moving around the edges of that box that is synchronized with your breathing in and breathing out, or some people envision a ribbon of color moving around the peripheral of the box that is keeping time visually for them of their four count breathing in, their four count exhale all the way around the box. And that process connects your awareness of your breath moving in and out and your physical state.

Riva:

And another somatic practice is progressive muscle relaxation. So you start at your head, the very, very top of your scalp, and you slowly move through your body. It's just simply noticing where there's areas of tension what your hairband feels like, what your AirPods feel like in your ears, a tie if you're wearing it, necklaces. What your shirt feels like on your shoulders. What are your shoulders doing? Are your shoulders bunched up? Try dropping your shoulders and as you move past areas of your body like your jaw, is your jaw clenched? Is your tongue pushing against the roof of your mouth, are you holding your breath as you continue moving down through your body and assessing what it's doing, where there's tension, uncomfortableness, pain, how your surroundings feel to you. You are connecting a thought process of your body, your awareness, your emotional state and what your body is responding to in a nonjudgmental, observational way, all the way from your head, all the way to your feet. And these are great practices to do at the end of your journaling exercise in order to connect the physiological state of your body with what you have identified as the psychological state, your mental and emotional state. These practices are very small, you can do them in the car, in the elevator, laying down, standing up, but they are very mighty steps towards creating a sense of safety and balance within yourself.

Riva:

So mindfulness, using these somatic techniques, can also be exercised with the senses. You can do a grounding exercise of your five senses, looking at what can you see, what can you hear, what can you feel, what can you smell and what can you taste. What can you feel, what can you smell and what can you taste in that present moment? A lot of you may be familiar with this as an exercise that can be done to alleviate anxiety or stress or even panic attacks at the time, and it is very useful for that because it is forcing the body to focus on different sensory inputs and that slows the build of neurochemicals in the brain when someone is suffering from severe anxiety or a panic attack. So the five senses tool is a great mindfulness tool that can be used anytime you're noticing that your let's say heart rate is escalating, your stress is increasing, your anxiety has increased. Maybe you just had secondary exposure to trauma in a code or with a patient or a patient family or a near miss with a car accident.

Riva:

Being able to have tools and in the skill set that you can use whenever you need to use them is incredibly helpful in building the ability to be mindfulness when you or to have mindfulness when you need it, versus this being something that you have to recall and then utilize. It's like building muscle memory. It's like inserting an IV using a stethoscope all of those things we've built muscle memory for because we've done it time and time again with a focused purpose in an intentional space. So you're gonna do the same thing with mindfulness and somatic exercises in a focused intention, in a created space that is literally all about yourself and that's going to become muscle memory, much the same way so many of our other skills are. So with that first segment, that's the part that I want you to practice this week.

Riva:

Have fun with that self-care challenge and filling out those bingo cards. Remember, there's no perfect way to do this. If you do this one night out of all the nights this week, then that's great. If you read it and you get ready to do it and aren't quite ready to go there, but you contemplate the mindfulness aspects and the somatic aspects and start thinking about that process, that's great. Also, there's no perfect way to do this. It has to be right for you. But creating that intentional space for yourself is ultimately important in developing this skill set that you can use to prioritize yourself and your healing and make it so that you are a better healer for other people that you are a better healer for other people.

Riva:

So I'm super excited at this point because it is time for our first ever crystals, coffee and divination segment. I've been looking forward to this for I can't even tell you months when I thought about doing the segment. I was so excited about it that I really had to work hard at making sure it didn't take over the entire podcast episode. So this week's drink of the week is a warm honey and lavender latte. Part of it was inspired by one of my kiddos being sick. She doesn't drink coffee, but I made her a warm drink of honey and mint tea to soothe her throat and help her coughing. And I do drink coffee and I do like lavender lattes. So a warm honey and lavender latte this is perfect for calming your nerves and centering your energy, aka maybe a decaf or a herbal tea that you can have right before you practice your somatic exercises or your journaling.

Riva:

And so earlier this year I took an amazing trip near Half Moon Bay and I had the chance to stop at Half Moon Bay Lavender, which is a family farm producing and selling some of the most amazing herbs since 1995. You can check them out at halfmoonbaylavendercom. They have an organic lavender infused honey that is used in this drink that is so fragrant and amazing because of their lavender, so you can pair it with a black tea or a green tea. It's also exceptional that way, if you're not a coffee drinker. Herbal tea, decaff same exact thing. And you can recreate this by steeping lavender with your tea bag and then adding your favorite honey. Or you can steam your milk with lavender and honey and then either use a quick strainer or you could put the lavender in one of those cute tea things like the tea infusers and steam the milk with that in it, add your honey and there you go. So I encourage you, while you are doing either the self-care bingo cards or working on your somatic practice for your series, one of debriefing with yourself, to pair that with a warm honey and lavender tea or latte and enjoy that amazing calming scent and aroma as it gets you in the great mind space. To work on those skills.

Riva:

And our crystal prescription of the week is amethyst. So amethyst is known for its ability to promote calm and clarity, along with balance, while reducing negative energy. Now, as amethyst is a quartz, its hexagonal structure of six sides is balanced. Its Mohs hardness scale is a 7, meaning it's relatively durable and it can withstand moderate wear or tear. Also, it has a specific gravity, slightly more dense than water. So maybe, anecdotally speaking, of course, if we're 70% water, that's where its grounding and calming effect come from. Amethyst also has a refractive index of 1.54 to 1.55. So light bends slightly passing through it Maybe, perhaps lending to that quality of clarity passing through it, maybe, perhaps, lending to that quality of clarity. So find a gorgeous piece of amethyst and wear it as jewelry, put it by the bedside or tuck it in a pocket close to you this week and call in that calm, clarity and balance.

Riva:

And for this week's divination I drew the Four of Cups. I couldn't plan this if I tried. I even read it immediately to my husband, who's here in the studio with me. The four of cups signifies rest and meditation. I know, I know I could not have planned this better. If I tried my excitement on pulling that card, there may have been a giggle or two. So this is a signal to find some time to center yourself in a balanced space and rest and meditate and hold that space. The four of cups on this card is surrounding the figure in the middle in a perfectly balanced structure providing an area of protective space. So take this as your general reminder to prioritize time for introspection and self-care this week.

Riva:

So before we close, don't forget to participate in part two of the self-care challenge. You can find it on our Instagram and Facebook pages and you can do either the seven day or the five day. And if you started off with the five day, then switch to the seven and vice versa. If you're just joining us for the first time, pick either or do both, but have fun doing it. And this week's challenge is all about creating a small daily ritual that helps you transition from work mode to home mode, whether it's a cup of tea, a walk, journaling, a shower, being creative music.

Riva:

I also want to hear from you, so send in your stories by emailing hello at ritualnursecom or using the text me link in the podcast notes. This is a super fun feature and on all of the major platforms at the very beginning of the podcast notes there's a link that says text me. You can communicate with me. If you click on that link on your mobile devices and just start typing the text, it'll tell you the first part not to remove, so that way it gets sent directly to me and you type the text. I won't have your phone number or anything like that, it'll just come straight to me and it's a really quick and fun way to share a story with me or information or even feedback. So whether it's a funny moment, a touching patient story or a tip that's helped you survive a shift, I'd love to share it with our community. You can ask for it to be anonymous, or, if you'd love the spotlight, I would love to spotlight you. Or, if you'd love the spotlight, I would love to spotlight you.

Riva:

And as we wrap up this episode, I do want to ask you again what would it look like if you made yourself a priority, not just in moments of crisis, but every single day? What small, intentional change could you make today to begin your own healing journey? This is the beginning of something powerful. Together, we're going to break the cycle of burnout, trauma and stress that is too often associated with nursing. Remember, the Ritual Nurse is here for you, one episode at a time, as you navigate the highs and lows of life and healthcare.

Riva:

Thank you so much for joining me today. Remember, this space is for you. Until next time, take care of yourself, because you deserve it. Keep healing, keep laughing and keep thriving. I'll see you in the next episode of the Ritual Nurse Podcast. Love your faces. This is your Ritual Nurse, reva. Thanks for tuning in to the Ritual Nurse Podcast. You can find us wherever you listen to podcasts, so don't forget to subscribe and stay connected For all our social links, free education classes, blogs and podcast notes with resources, head over to tcthorg. Until next time, love your faces. Keep crafting those rituals to heal the healer.