I’m Dewana; Nurse, Writer, and Recovered Burnout.
I love Nursing and helping people because I can’t stand to see someone suffering without trying to help.
But when ever increasing demands overloaded my ability to control how I used my time I became burned out while trying to keep all the plates in the air.
Those outside demands made me neglect the things I could control, myself and my actions.
It took several years of living like that before I realized I was destroying my health while I tried my hardest to keep a broken healthcare system from breaking even more.
When we lose our autonomy to control the things that matter to us we become despondent.
That leads to what has been called Shell shock, Compassion Fatigue, Operational exhaustion, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Burnout or Moral injury over the years.
We buy into all the hype that is marketed to us in the modern world.
Pay attention to this shiny thing or that, take the easy way so you can spend more time working to keep up with others demands on our time and energy.
Processed foods are easy and tasty, so we fill our shopping carts with stuff that is full of chemicals and toxins so we can eat delicious food and make it to work on time.
We are not healthier today, because of modern life, but in spite of it.
Modern advances have done wonders to increase worker productivity and to help us live longer by proactively fixing the big problems like infections, but it has destroyed our connection with the earth and our bodies.
We are just beginning to understand the great harm this disconnect has caused to our brain and our gut.
We have more control over our health and happiness than at any other time in history, but we cause more damage our health than at any other time in history because we are trying to keep up with endless demands.
It was almost too late for me before I realized what my eating habits were doing to my health.
Today, I am determined to talk about how those endless demands to do what we are told lead to Burnout, chronic illness and despair in the modern world.
Only when we take back our control to live life the way we want can we have a healthier and more satisfied life.
Follow me for the brutal truth about burnout and my hope for the future.
Critical Care Nurse Turned Coach and Writer | Care For Caregivers
Dewana Coffey, a Registered Nurse and Content Creator, helps nurses and other empaths see that prioritizing their health and happiness is not selfish, it is necessary.
She writes about her own experience as an empathetic nurse struggling to take care of herself while her life crumbled around her.
Hope and better health are waiting for you once you learn the way out is putting your needs first.
Saying that out loud and not feeling selfish took a lot of self-reflection and time.
I write to show that it is possible to heal your body and mind after burnout and you can come to love your life more than you ever thought possible.
I am living proof.
Here are the five goals I use to prioritize myself;
- Keep my batteries fully charged so I am ready for anything.
- Put and keep myself first in my thoughts and actions.
- Recover from the damage already done and stay healthy.
- Build my ideal dream life and don’t forget to enjoy living it.
- Do all of the above so I can help others without burning myself out again.
Read about where I went wrong and what it took to rebuild my life by signing up for my free newsletter at www.dewanacoffey.com, hanging out with me here on LinkedIn, and on Youtube @dewanacoffey.
I do all of this because I wish I had someone in my corner when I needed help.
Looking back at burnout years later
It was just like boiling a frog. It was like being placed into a pot of cold water as a kid. Then, very slowly, the water got a little warmer and a little warmer. I didn’t notice it until one day, almost 30 years later when I was startled to see the burns.
When you think life has to be lived one way, you will keep twisting yourself to do what is expected of you until you get smacked in the face with the reality that it was all just self-imposed.
Like a car wreck, you never think chronic illness will happen to you. Look around at all of the people you know who are battling various chronic illnesses today. Illnesses that were rare only 50 years ago.
Modern food and stress causes most of our modern disease
Chances are you haven’t heard many people tell you that it is our modern lifestyle that is causing our suffering.
We are all sitting in our pots of water while the water keeps getting a little bit warmer but we don’t jump out because it has become normal.
Have you heard the saying “Keeping Up With The Jones”
- We think we have to do everything we are told to do and get everything we are told to want; so we push, strive, and hustle to the point of complete stress overload and despair.
- We eat whatever tastes good and is easy because we deserve it after the day we’ve had.
- We are so exhausted after working to make someone else’s dream a reality that we come home and sit on our couches and stare at our phones or TVs while getting pelted with ads.
- We don’t trust ourselves because we don’t keep our promises to ourselves. We are caught up in our job description, which is subject to change at any minute these days instead of trying to create something to be proud of.
- We think we have to put chemicals on or in our bodies because the self-care ads demand it. At best some of these products are scary and at worst they are cancer-causing. Looking at you, deodorant with aluminum, alcohol, hair dye, cereal, packaged foods, fast food and nail polish among many others.
- We have been convinced by marketers that tasty foods created in labs and factories are normal. They have been designed to have the perfect ratio of fat, sugar, and salt to addict our brains.
- Jumping out of the pot before we boil to death is easy once you realize all the ways you have been led to ignore the rising temperature.
Shining a Light on the Need to be More Selfish is My Way to Care for The Caregivers.
Society is taking the most compassionate among us for granted.
Nurses, doctors, and caregivers are exhausted and burned out while healthcare administrators continues to push us to the brink because of the insurance crisis that makes funding hospitals near impossible.
This is why we are in this crisis today.
I started writing online and ultimately decided to build this website as a way to get these ideas in front of the people who need to hear them the most.
Compassionate caregivers just want to help people because they have so much empathy and compassion that they can’t stand to see people suffer.
Nurses are often told that we need to do evermore, even though we already give our blood, sweat, and tears.
Instead of being told you are not doing enough, while we sacrifice our bodies and minds, more people should be trying to come up with ways to care for the caregivers.
Nurses, You are enough and I see how hard you work to help others and how little you are given for all that you sacrifice in your life to be a nurse to us all.
Allow me to show you how I am using my experience and cutting-edge research to help Nurses live happier, healthier, and yes, a little more selfish lives.
Sign up below to read my weekly newsletter where I discuss the latest about putting yourself and get a 17 page PDF about the best Anti-inflammatory Foods and tips ever assembled in one document.
Best Anti Inflammatory Foods Free PDF
Under your control is whether you prepare your body with all of the nutrients you need to repair your body and mind or just try to make yourself comfortable. Hormones, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals among many others do the work of making thousands of repairs to your cells and mitochondria every day. Without those repairs, our cells start to break down over time.
I created a very useful 17-page color PDF where I show you everything I have learned about the wonders of how to use Food as Medicine. This easy-to-follow 17-page color PDF explains how your Gut Microbiome provides good nutrition for Nurses like you to feel your best.
People who have never lived the #nurselife try to tell us what to do to get over burnout. Their advice is often generic like in this research paper. I am brutally honest and you will recognize the harsh reality of what we are up against as you get to know me. Once you understand that the rules we have been taught about self-care and nutrition are simply wrong I hope you breathe a sigh of relief.
Are you experiencing exhaustion, chronic pain, chronic illness, brain fog, headaches, and body aches?
These are all symptoms of your body reacting to pro-inflammatory substances. You could be eating healthy foods and still have these symptoms because of reactions happening out of sight.
Natural and unnatural substances interact with your microbiome and your food depending on how they were processed and absorbed.
Have you been diagnosed with Autoimmune, HTN, Diabetes, Insulin Resistance, Heart Disease, Depression, or even Dementia?
These are symptoms of what we have been putting into our bodies for decades causing inflammation, either directly or indirectly. The gut bacteria in every one of us is a unique combination. Good and Bad byproducts, vitamins, or toxins, are produced when certain foods interact with certain bacteria which then interact with your unique DNA.
Self-medicating?
This is another symptom of the bigger problem. This happens because we’ve tried everything else to feel good enough to keep up the crazy pace of nursing. We know that it is unhealthy and unsafe but we are desperate to stop hurting.
This always ends in a crash-and-burn situation because nurses are often living at a pace that kills us one way or the other. The triad of alcohol abuse, drug addiction, and suicide are called Deaths of Despair.
Deaths of Despair are becoming a leading cause of death among every population but healthcare workers are seeing a huge spike because we know that if we quit there will be no reinforcements coming.
The key is to stop the madness before it gets to this point. Even if you are to this point, you can recover. It is time for professional help and rehab. Rehab will be the best thing that has ever happened to you.
Dewana Coffey, Rn
About the Author
“I am on a mission to help nurses like you feel better and live the life you deserve.”
“Empowering Nurses and everyday people to take better care of their own health and wellness is what this community is all about.”