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Top Tip No. 6 – Do you need to change your life outside work to make your work time happier?

Featured Author:

Claire Westwood

“Claire Westwood is a trained nurse and inspirational life coach. She has been a nurse since 1985 and has worked in a variety of areas in adult and paediatric care.

She is now a life coach and the founder of “happynurses” with a mission to create a million happy nurses. Claire works with individual nurses who feel overwhelmed and ‘stuck’ in life, enabling them to create fulfilling, balanced lives for themselves. She also enables employers who have high levels of absence or high staff turnover to raise their staff morale and reduce sickness and stress amongst their teams.

Take a look at Claire’s e-book The Happynurses Guide to Being Happier at Work: 6 Top Tips. It was recently given a four star (out of five) rating by The Nursing Standard.

For free happiness tips go to www.happynurses.co.uk and leave your email address in the box!

Claire can be contacted on Claire@happynurses.co.uk 07794 990 258

More articles from this author:

• How to Create a Balanced Life while Nursing
• Coaching Skills for Nurses
• happynurses Problem Page. Challenge No. 1 – Lack of Confidence

Ten years ago when I was really unhappy at work, all my focus was on how terrible work was. When I bought my first life coaching book and started to look at my life as a whole, I realized that one of the reasons I was unhappy was that there was a big part of me that wasn’t being fulfilled or utilized, which was my creative side.

It may be for you that it’s a ‘whole life’ issue, rather than just your work. Take the focus away from work and start to examine what you do when you’re out of work that could put you back into the workplace fitter, healthier, more relaxed, and more fulfilled.

Find the balance in how much you find fulfillment in yourself outside your work, as well as in your job. It brings us back, again, to the first principle, of knowing who you are. If you know who you truly are, you can see what needs your work does fulfill in you.

It can be difficult if you’re a nurse, especially if you’re a mum, or have other caring responsibilities in and out of work. It is challenging to find time to do your own thing, but I know from coaching people who are parents that once they’ve put themselves first, and created some ‘breathing space’ for themselves, the repercussions can be enormous.

Is it appropriate to get that met at work, or should I be looking elsewhere? Ideally you should get your needs met internally, rather than by other people. Know what you really need, and provide it for yourself. That leads to internal security and strength.

Life balance

I know that when I was working as a ward sister and I was singing and doing drama I was much happier than when I was just a ward sister. The job was the same. It was just as hard, it was just as tough and it was just as stressful, but as a whole person, I was much happier in myself, because I had other areas of my life where my talents were being utilized, and my needs fulfilled. Nursing wasn’t the be-all and end-all. I was more relaxed, I was more creative, I had a lot more fun in my week because the activities I did outside my work were a lot of fun. I made new friends, learned new skills and found a new way to be ‘someone else’ for a while. It had multiple benefits to me.

Make sure you have some time for your health and relaxation, some fun, a non-work challenge which gives you a sense of achievement, some time for love and treats too!

For more information about being a happy nurse visit www.happynurses.co.uk or join the happynurses group here on ProNurse, or just connect with Claire and say hello!