Trying to become an Influential Leader

                      The Broken Way was a beautiful video and reminder of how every struggle you are faced with is meant to build you up and strengthen who you are (Voskamp, 2016). She mentions that we no longer need to fear broken things. Her words remind me of one of my favorite quotes: “People are in your life for a reason, others are there for a season and it’s important to realize when those seasons are over (Gibson, n.d.).” There are many variations of this quote, but overall, I always felt that things happen to us for life lessons, we may not understand it at the time, but when we’re older we can reflect back on them and understand the why on why we had to go through that experience.  As I’ve talked about in previous posts, I feel that my experience as a new graduate nurse at my first hospital shaped me into the person I am today. I am the type of leader who is cognizant on the culture of the environment and...

              As a former psychiatric nurse I think its absolutely necessary to connect with your patients so that they feel the trust, therefore building a strong rapport. Once you can do this then you know they can turn to you in time of their darkest hour. That darkest time could be why they’re admitted to the acute inpatient mental health unit. I feel that this correlates to Brene Brown’s webcast on vulnerability. It really resonated with me when she said that there was a theme of courage in her research data (Ted, 2011). Especially when it comes to mental health. Patients who voluntarily admit themselves into to the psych ward are courageous for setting aside stigmas because they know they need the professional help. Brene described compassion, connections, and vulnerability as well (Ted, 2011). Her words really struck me into why I felt that need to connect with my patients in order to build solid rapport. I love how she describes vulnerabil...

            I really enjoyed Anna Voskamp’s blog post regarding her Secret to  Parenting  and the importance of allowing the struggle. I took some screenshots to make sure I remember that sound advice while raising my own young children. I’m a bit more of the anxious and worried parent than my laxed husband, so this quote really resonated with me. “Once fear grows, it becomes contagious. And once it becomes contagious, it can limit the scope of life. (Voskamp, 2018)” In my previous blog post I discussed my struggles with the first unit I worked on as a new graduate nurse. Though I was so excited to have my first big girl job, I struggled with the “mean girls club” culture that was prevalent throughout the department. I would dwell on any criticism given by my preceptor or her friends. It was mostly because of how the criticism was given, not kind and supportive, just demeaning and condescending. I really don’t want to believe that t...

At first glance I thought that my personality results were different from what they were ten years ago when I took a similar test on Pinterest. To my surprise my old Pinterest test results displayed the same thing! I am still the same, an ESFJ-T, this time the test referred to me as a Consul. The prior Pinterest version was more geared towards careers and displayed the ESFJ type as a Caretaker, with an ideal job being a Registered Nurse! I would have to say that this personality test does accurately describe who I am. The assessment describes me as someone with an extroverted mind, who gains energy from my surrounding observations, who follows emotional expression and social harmony, with decisiveness, clarity, organization, all while remaining self-consciousness and success driven, with a bit of perfectionism thrown in the mix ( Personality Types , n.d.)!       When I was younger, I would’ve considered myself to be shy and an introvert, so it’s interesting to see th...

I would have to say that I am uniquely me because I am an overthinker and analyzer, but because of this I am always the one with questions! My friends always say that I’m the one who thinks of the craziest, most outside the box type of question. It could just be that I believe I’m personable and approachable. I like to talk and feel I can get to know people fairly easily by just getting to know them and their lives because I can just keep going with my questions! Past Me: Upon reflecting on my career and how my life has morphed over the years I am beginning to understand why certain career paths didn’t work out for me and why others have. My first few jobs were in retail, in fact my first degree was in Textile & Apparel Management and Marketing. This landed me in retail management roles where I found myself not fitting in with the cutthroat need to upsell socks and jeans as add on items to the t-shirt my customers were coming in for. Coming out of high school I never considered b...