 Hi guys and welcome back to this video today I want to talk a little bit about my personal struggle with nursing burnout and kind of talk to you about a really Personal topic in my life that I have not been open yet about sharing with you guys and That is how my mental health has been I think when you guys watch my videos you get this perception of who I am and I hope that it's a positive one And you see that I'm like this happy go lucky bubbly outgoing person and that's for the most part who I am but I have to be honest and share with you guys something that's been weighing on me and That is my struggle with some postpartum anxiety And how it has affected me in my nursing career after giving birth to my daughter back in October I had three months off to enjoy with her and then I went back to work And when I went back to work, I realized that some things had really changed within myself and Now as a nurse I was looking at all of my patients as if they were someone's mom Or maybe someone's son or someone's daughter if they were a younger patient I was would think wow this patient has a mom like their mom is Probably still alive or if they ever may be an older patient I'd be like this is someone's mom someone's mom is like really really sick and I just felt like I had all this pressure on myself to not make any mistakes because if I made a mistake Or did something to harm someone or hurt someone in their life. I could like never forgive myself and it was really not a healthy Way to think and I was bringing that home with me as well And I think a lot of this has to do with just after you give birth Your hormones changed and now you just have this whole new purpose and perception of life I had my daughter. She's my everything and I just I couldn't imagine anything happening to her and To know that someone else has that same love for my patients. It really just Put a lot of pressure on myself and it's not that I didn't enjoy what I was doing It's just that it was causing me a lot of stress and anxiety at work I talk about this because I know a lot of you probably struggle with similar things Maybe not necessarily with thinking everyone's a mom or baby or something like that But maybe you have something else that's affecting you in your personal life That's carrying over into work and it's causing you a lot of anxiety This is a slippery slope to be on because it really contributes to nurse burnout and your happiness at work And you've invested so much time in your nursing career that you really should be happy in what you do so I want to show something pretty big that I've done to help me with this struggle and That is I've started going to therapy for it And I want to be honest that I've started going to therapy for it because I think we should break the stigma behind Mental health and we should support one another and know that people are going through these struggles And we are not perfect human beings. We are not perfect nurses And I have no shame in saying that I'm getting help for this So I started to go through therapy through the app called better help and this video is sponsored by better help And I'm super thankful that they reached out to me because it actually came at a perfect time I was actually just talking to my husband a couple weeks ago about you know I really think I need to go to therapy for this. I need to talk to someone I need to get some better coping mechanisms for how I can think about these situations and handle these situations While I'm at work and in my personal life. And so when they reach out to me, I was like It's a sign. I have to do this So better help is an app that you can use to access professional counselors worldwide Who are certified and able to help you there are four modes of communication You can reach them through the phone a tablet a computer or you can privately message them and they respond back to you When I signed up I got matched with a counselor within 24 hours And she actually happens to live locally in my area which was kind of neat And I've been just messaging back and forth with her about some of the things that I've been thinking and struggling with And getting some help on how to change my mindset when it comes to these things I like the messaging back and forth aspect because it for me It kind of feels weird sometimes when you talk to someone in person But I like that that option is available if I want to schedule a phone call with her All of the therapists on there are licensed by their state board and It's nice because if you don't like the one that you're talking to you can easily find another one Another thing I really like is that it's a monthly subscription to receive help They have financial aid available and you're not paying per session It really takes the stress and pressure out of Making sure that one session is like everything you'd hoped for when you know You can just always message your counselor Or you can always schedule a phone call whether that's once a week or every other week or maybe twice a week And receive the help that you need it's important to know that better help is not a crisis line So if you are experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency I will include a resource for you down below that you can access in the description box I think the biggest takeaway so far that I've had from therapy is that I need to give myself permission to not be perfect and I guess It's like I've always known this but I haven't known this until someone pointed it out I put a lot of pressure on myself to be perfect and to do everything and to do everything well and Correct and right into the best potential Which is a good Quality to have but it also can be very stressful and weigh you down and to have that Sense of always needing to be perfect at everything and especially at work puts a lot of pressure and anxiety on Someone and the only person putting it on me is myself So it's really helpful to just have that permission to Let go you don't have to be perfect and if we make mistakes We're going to learn from them and grow from them and be better nurses because of them I'm excited to keep doing the therapy and to just learn different coping mechanisms with My personal life and with my nursing life And I hope that if you're struggling with something whether it's a relationship or your job or maybe nursing school is really overwhelming for you I'm giving you permission to receive help do it for yourself. You don't have to be ashamed or embarrassed They don't even have to see what you look like or hear your voice You can literally like message them through the app. So thank you better help for sponsoring this video I will have a link down below so you guys can easily go download the app Or check it out on your computer or tablet and I'm happy to talk more about this Or if you guys have any specific questions, please ask me. I'm an open book. I want to share I want to help you guys because I know I'm not the only one struggling with this Let me know in the comments below and thanks for watching Make sure you're subscribed to my channel and I'll see you guys next time