Throughout this. past year have you thought “I am who I am, but I miss who I was”?

Do you miss the you that had a fire in your soul for nursing?

It sounds like an almost ridiculous approach to ones’ job but how many of us believe nursing is a calling? It is more than a career, it is our passion. At least it used to be.

Where is the excitement? The enthusiasm? The zeal?

If you have lost it, can you get it back? If the fire has died, can it be rekindled?

What starts a fire/flame for taking care of others with your heart, hands, and intellect? What is the fuel? What is the spark that will turn your dry and tired nurse’s soul into a roaring (or at least warm) fire for service and science?

I believe that gratitude is the building block upon which to build desire for moving forward. What are you grateful for in your nursing practice? Is anyone grateful for you? You see gratitude, that will motivate you, is sometimes a two-way street.

I vividly remember the sudden shift in healthcare a few years back. It’s as if all of our patients were rude and assuming. We became glorified waitresses with narcotics. A “thank you” became rare and complaints went through the roof. Work place violence became common outside of the ED and Psych. We began to experience ungratefulness. Now that feeling of not being appreciated is coming from management as well.

Hospitals are such big businesses now that they are not grateful for their staff. They chew them up and spit them out. Nurses are numbers and if one leaves, they will just replace him/her.

Which all leaves nurses not grateful as well.

Nurses are not grateful for their opportunities to take care of rude and/or dying patients while jumping through hoops for a leadership team they don’t trust. It’s a grim picture when painted this way.

A gratitude practice is very solitary at its core. It’s about you finding one simple/single thing you are thankful for. Once you start looking for things, people, opportunities, experiences, etc. for which to be grateful, you will begin to see one more, then one more, it snowballs; it sparks; it explodes.

It might be so bleak where you work that you literally cannot find anything to be thankful for. That’s when you look outside of work. It’s about starting the practice of noticing and then being mindful about being thankful for it. If nothing else, you woke up today. Check. Put it on your list. It starts within you. It is personal. No two nurses are going to have the same feelings of gratitude because no two nurses or nursing experiences are alike.

What does gratitude turn into?

Joy.

The word Rejoice, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is to feel or show great joy or delight.

Have you rejoiced at work lately? I know, I know, I know, it sounds impossible. But it can happen. Just find that one thing to get you started:

-I got paid

-I got that IV

-My co-worker made me smile

-I made my co-worker smile

-My co-worker hung that IV bag for me

-My manager bought pizza and answered call lights while I ate it (that might be a stretch, but I guess it could happen)

-Nobody died today.

-I had time to hold that hand

“Rejoicing is grounded in gratitude, with a keen appreciation for yourself, others, your abundance, and the beauty around you.”- Susan C. Young

Remember: no matter where you go, there you are. If you had passion and drive, you can kickstart it again. Your nurse’s soul isn’t barren it’s just tired. After some much needed rest, give gratitude a try. Rejoice in your practice.

P.S. Gratitude is contagious.