1 00:00:02,799 --> 00:00:08,240 What's up, guys, It's Adrianne. I just wanted to hop on here 2 00:00:08,279 --> 00:00:15,759 real quick and let you know that this episode was recorded last year in May 3 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:22,879 or June of twenty twenty two, right before I moved from Minneapolis to Chicago. 4 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:27,120 I make a couple outdated references in here, so I just wanted to 5 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,640 give you guys a heads up. But this is still a really wonderful, 6 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:37,039 relevant, entertaining episode and I hope you enjoy. Okay, let's go Welcome 7 00:00:37,079 --> 00:00:43,240 to Nursing on censored. We are back today to talk about more positive things 8 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:48,439 in nursing, because goodness knows, we have had our fair share of trials 9 00:00:48,439 --> 00:00:53,320 and tribulations over these last few years. So today I am very excited to 10 00:00:53,399 --> 00:00:58,320 bring to all of you Donna Cardillo, who is known as the Inspiration Nurse 11 00:00:58,439 --> 00:01:02,960 because we all need a little inspiration, right. She's a powerhouse of energy, 12 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,439 wisdom, humor. She's been referred to as a positive force of nature 13 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,599 who lights a path for others to follow. She's the original Dear Donna columnist 14 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:17,439 and nurse dot com. Her accomplished career combines over twenty five years of clinical, 15 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:22,920 managerial and business experience, not to mention her stint as a professional singer, 16 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:25,959 and I need to ask about that, so we'll come we'll circle background 17 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,560 to that. Donna is the author of four books, including the award winning 18 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,159 Falling Together, How to find balance, joy and meaningful change when your life 19 00:01:34,159 --> 00:01:40,920 seems to be falling apart. She's a certified meditation teacher, a labyrinth facilitator. 20 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:42,000 I don't know what that is, so we're going to talk about that 21 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:49,040 too, a raiky master, a certified forest therapy guide, and Donna is 22 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:55,079 also a lifelong Jersey girl with attitude and hotspot A spare I love a good 23 00:01:55,159 --> 00:01:59,599 year. Said well, yes, thank you, Donna, welcome to the 24 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:01,840 show. I'm so delighted to have you here today. Thank you, my 25 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:07,480 pleasure to be with you today in your audience. Excellent. Well already I 26 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:09,479 have a million questions for you, but I would love to start out with 27 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:15,080 you telling us a little bit more about yourself. Yeah. Sure. So 28 00:02:15,199 --> 00:02:20,159 I've been a nurse for a long time, for several decades, and it 29 00:02:20,199 --> 00:02:23,479 has just been the joy of my life. There is not ever been one 30 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:30,159 day that I have ever regretted my choice, or not learned something new or 31 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:35,520 didn't know that I was making an enormous difference in the world. So nursing 32 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,280 is a big, wide world and I have taken advantage of all of that, 33 00:02:39,319 --> 00:02:43,800 and I'm sure there's still more out there as well. I did start 34 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:49,080 out years ago in a traditional, actually hospital based diploma program, which is 35 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,159 something many of us did years ago, and I started out working in psychiatric 36 00:02:53,199 --> 00:02:57,719 hospitals on the emergency room. I loved both of those specialties, and I 37 00:02:57,719 --> 00:03:01,319 imagine that that's what I would do with all of my career because many nurses 38 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:07,199 just see opportunities in a traditional hospital setting, but I was completely unaware at 39 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:12,960 that time of all the other opportunities that were out there. And I never 40 00:03:13,159 --> 00:03:15,719 moved from the hospital because I didn't like the hospital, not at all. 41 00:03:15,759 --> 00:03:21,039 On the contrary, I had moved at some point, tried to find another 42 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,719 job in a hospital in an emergency room, couldn't find the shift I wanted, 43 00:03:24,039 --> 00:03:30,719 and began to explore other possibilities for myself through classified advertising. So I 44 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:36,680 wound up initially outside of the hospital working in a medical weight control center, 45 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,039 and that was where I had my first management position. I started to learn 46 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:45,840 all the transferable skills I had as a registered nurse. From there I went 47 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,520 on to work. I can't even always remember the order of things. I 48 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:52,840 did quite a few things back then, but I worked for the Stanley Kaplin 49 00:03:52,919 --> 00:03:57,080 company that has test prepped for nurses to take nursing boards. I worked for 50 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:01,280 a hospital in charge of quality improvement, utilism, zation review and risk management. 51 00:04:01,319 --> 00:04:05,360 In fact, the DRG system, which was introduced in this country in 52 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:11,159 the nineteen eighties as a revolutionary way of hospital billing. I was one of 53 00:04:11,199 --> 00:04:15,400 the first DRG coordinators in the country. And if you're not familiar with DRGs, 54 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,560 you or your audience, that's okay, stands for diagnostic related groups. 55 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:23,120 You could always look it up and find out more about it. And then 56 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:28,079 I also worked for a health maintenance organization. When managed care was getting big 57 00:04:28,079 --> 00:04:31,079 in this country, I was interested in learning more about that and I did 58 00:04:31,079 --> 00:04:35,079 that for a time as well. And for the last twenty seven years now 59 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:40,480 I have been self employed as a nurse. I'm a nurse entrepreneur and I 60 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:46,360 started my business twenty seven years ago doing public seminars for nurses on non traditional 61 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:54,079 career opportunities. Culled career alternatives for nurses because I discovered purely by chance that 62 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,279 there's a wide array of opportunities for nurses, both in and out of the 63 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:02,319 hospital, and I came aware that the average nurse wasn't aware of those opportunities. 64 00:05:02,879 --> 00:05:06,240 Nor did the average nurse, at least at that time and still pretty 65 00:05:06,319 --> 00:05:11,560 much today know how to market themselves well, you know, creating a great 66 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,800 resume, going on interviews and really selling themselves, advocating for themselves and their 67 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:21,000 their skill set and so on. And so my business has evolved in twenty 68 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,879 seven years from doing public seminars for nurses, and by the way, that 69 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:30,319 seminar career al Trenitive is for nurses, I don't present that live anymore, 70 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:33,839 but I do have that available in an audio download on my website so people 71 00:05:33,879 --> 00:05:39,519 can still get that information. So then, over the years my business evolved, 72 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:44,480 and I am now today primarily a keynote or a featured speaker at nursing 73 00:05:44,519 --> 00:05:49,879 conferences and conventions at hospitals and healthcare organizations. I have since written four books, 74 00:05:49,879 --> 00:05:54,879 as you mentioned in my introduction, three of them are for the nurses 75 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:59,199 career and professional development. We can talk about that a little bit more later, 76 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,680 and also do retreats today for nurses. I do a retreat called Empowered 77 00:06:02,759 --> 00:06:09,600 Nurse Enlightened Practice, and I do those retreats. Those are usually weekend long 78 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:15,040 retreats that I do either at luxury resorts or I do at some more low 79 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:19,240 key retreat sectors, depending on the location. So I kind of offer a 80 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:25,800 little something for everybody. So that's a quick overview. You are a perfect 81 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:30,399 example of what really nursing can be and what nursing can do for you that 82 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:35,079 and I think a lot of nurses do kind of fall into that mindset of 83 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:38,800 like, if I want to be a real nurse, I have to work 84 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,519 in a hospital, I have to do these these and these things, and 85 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:47,439 that's just not the case. Wonderful bedside experience can be had, and many 86 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:51,959 people do choose to stay at the bedside, but there are so many opportunities, 87 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:58,399 and I think that you are a perfect example of how you've got to 88 00:06:58,519 --> 00:07:01,319 let the current kind of take you and find the things that you're passionate about 89 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:06,079 and that you love and that this guy is the limit. Did you ever 90 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:11,519 see yourself as a keynote speaker when you first started as a brand new diplomaturs, 91 00:07:11,519 --> 00:07:15,920 Oh gosh, absolutely, I never saw myself outside of the hospital exactly. 92 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,199 And even when I started my business twenty seven years ago, I'd never 93 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:23,000 imagined that i'd be doing any of the things that I'm doing today. And 94 00:07:23,199 --> 00:07:26,839 that's important because a lot of people feel that they need to have this clear 95 00:07:26,959 --> 00:07:30,399 vision of their future in order to move forward. But many of us can't 96 00:07:30,439 --> 00:07:33,839 have that clear vision because number one, we don't even know that something in 97 00:07:33,879 --> 00:07:39,000 particular exists. I had. First of all, I had no idea that 98 00:07:39,079 --> 00:07:42,920 people, any people spoke for a living, that they would go around, 99 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,680 travel around and speak at different events and people would pay them to be there, 100 00:07:46,759 --> 00:07:50,399 and it was, you know, a certain way of presenting, etc. 101 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:55,560 I didn't even know that that existed until I don't even remember when, 102 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,600 many many years later, And I remember the first time. The first person 103 00:07:59,639 --> 00:08:03,000 I met who was a professional speaker was actually a nurse. We an organization 104 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:07,680 that I was involved in, had hired her to come speak at one of 105 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,959 our annual conferences, and I picked her up at the airport and we had 106 00:08:11,959 --> 00:08:13,879 a chance to talk, and I said, wow, that I just had 107 00:08:13,959 --> 00:08:18,319 no idea, And I remember thinking, at that moment in time, I 108 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,360 certainly still didn't think I would do that, but I thought, gee's that's 109 00:08:22,439 --> 00:08:24,199 really cool. I don't know, maybe who knows, Maybe that's something that 110 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:28,399 I could do someday. So you really just have to get out there and 111 00:08:28,639 --> 00:08:33,360 talk to people, meet people, try different things, because that's how you 112 00:08:33,399 --> 00:08:37,639 find out Number one. You find out what's available, you find out what 113 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:39,600 you're good at, and you find out what you enjoy doing, and those 114 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:43,399 are all important things. So I always say you don't have to have a 115 00:08:43,399 --> 00:08:46,919 clear vision of the future. You just need to keep moving in a positive 116 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:52,840 forward direction and eventually the path will be illuminated for you. That's so hard 117 00:08:52,879 --> 00:08:58,159 for some people because we live in this culture that defines us by what we 118 00:08:58,279 --> 00:09:03,480 do, what we drive, where you know who will identify as And one 119 00:09:03,519 --> 00:09:05,720 thing that I've said many time, and long term listeners will have heard me 120 00:09:05,759 --> 00:09:11,679 say this before, the job that you someday cannot wait to wake up every 121 00:09:11,759 --> 00:09:15,799 day to do may not even exist yet. Well that too, that too, 122 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,639 I mean, that's a very good point. Yeah, But it's also 123 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:22,240 true that as I've interviewed people through the podcast, I've learned about jobs that 124 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:30,039 I didn't know existed because there's just such a vast set of skills that nurses 125 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,360 have and roles that we can fulfill. So I think, yeah, so 126 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:39,000 you make a great point that you can't expect to see the crescendo of your 127 00:09:39,039 --> 00:09:43,159 career, yeah, Kendo, or even the next step. You know. 128 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:48,000 For example, sometimes you'll hear a question ask like, where do you see 129 00:09:48,039 --> 00:09:50,279 yourself five years from now? I don't mean not a job interview, but 130 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,159 maybe a career coach will say, where do you see yourself five years from 131 00:09:54,159 --> 00:09:58,440 now? The truth is most people don't really don't. They don't have an 132 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:00,960 image of where they want to be in five years. They're just not really 133 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:05,399 sure. That seems so far off. So that's what I'm trying to say, 134 00:10:05,399 --> 00:10:07,000 you don't necessary. I mean, you can have a goal for five 135 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:11,639 years. Some people may great, fabulous, but if you don't, that's 136 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:16,120 okay. You want to just keep moving in a positive forward direction. I 137 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:18,679 have a very broad view of who a nurse is and what a nurse does. 138 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:22,200 Many nurses have a very narrow view. That's not a criticism. That's 139 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,759 just the nature of how we were in some cases, how we were educated, 140 00:10:28,039 --> 00:10:31,120 but what our experience has been and the people that we know. If 141 00:10:31,159 --> 00:10:35,639 we're living in a very narrow world with our job, our friends, whatever. 142 00:10:35,039 --> 00:10:39,279 We don't necessarily see the big picture. The more I got out there 143 00:10:39,279 --> 00:10:43,000 and did different things, the bigger the world got, and the bigger my 144 00:10:43,159 --> 00:10:48,720 vision got about nursing as well. And I always say nursing is the most 145 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,519 diverse profession on the planet. It will take you literally anywhere you want to 146 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,919 go. And we have a lot of people coming into nursing today from prior 147 00:10:58,039 --> 00:11:01,840 career, a career, or careers, so they're bringing a very interesting skill 148 00:11:01,879 --> 00:11:07,200 set and work and life experience to nursing, which is phenomenal. And whether 149 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:13,279 it's a background in psychology or in manufacturing, or in welding, or being 150 00:11:13,279 --> 00:11:18,600 a trained conductor, whatever it is, they bring all of that into the 151 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:24,519 profession and that is really helping to add a lot of texture and strength to 152 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:28,919 our profession as well, which is very exciting. I did not get my 153 00:11:28,799 --> 00:11:35,080 ADN until I was thirty five, and I'm now forty one, and I 154 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:39,879 consider myself to be at the very tip the beginning of my career because there's 155 00:11:39,879 --> 00:11:43,480 so much that I want to do. So many nurses are bringing other skill 156 00:11:43,519 --> 00:11:48,480 sets and other careers into kind of the nursing world. One of the most 157 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:54,759 compassionate nurses I've ever worked with was a nurse named Marcia, and she was 158 00:11:54,799 --> 00:12:00,679 an IT. She worked in IT before she became a nurse, and I've 159 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,279 seen some of the most fantastic nursing care I've seen it betside done by this 160 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:07,720 woman, and so I think we would be we would be foolish to limit 161 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:13,039 ourselves, and I strive to with this show kind of as we talked a 162 00:12:13,039 --> 00:12:18,080 little bit about before we started recording, my goal is to just illuminate everything 163 00:12:18,639 --> 00:12:22,159 that nurses are doing, because it's even news to me. I mean, 164 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:26,320 even though I've worked in a hospital since two thousand and five, every time 165 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:30,360 I talk to someone new, I'm like, what's that? What do you 166 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:31,799 mean? What is that job? I've never heard of that? That's amazing, 167 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:39,960 that's really great. And I think that the more we listen to each 168 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:43,120 other. I'm a big proponent of the collective knowledge of nurses. Nurses are 169 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:50,799 in such a unique position to reach people and provide care, whether it be 170 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:58,120 through direct hands on care or like what you're doing, which is providing information, 171 00:12:58,519 --> 00:13:05,600 inspiration, motivation. So I do want to kind of fall back for 172 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:11,919 a second to the introduction that I read for you. I am so desperately 173 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:16,039 curious to know what a labyrinth facilitator is. So I don't want to derail 174 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,759 too much, but I have to ask that questions, okay, when you're 175 00:13:18,759 --> 00:13:22,399 not really derailing, because the thing is, as I said, I have 176 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:24,279 a very broad view of who we nurses and what a nurse does, and 177 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:28,799 we are all We're healers, we're teachers, were nurturers, and there are 178 00:13:28,799 --> 00:13:33,159 many ways in places to make a difference. As you just articulated, and 179 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:37,759 we are. Healing is at the heart of everything that I do and that 180 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:41,600 any nurse does, no matter what role they have, no matter what they're 181 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:45,559 doing, whether they sit behind a desk, where they stand at the bedside, 182 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:48,279 whatever that might be. So first of all, I'll tell you what 183 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:52,200 a labyrinth is before I tell you what a labyrinth facilitator is. A labyrinth 184 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:56,200 is an ancient spiritual tool, and the exact argins of it are not even 185 00:13:56,320 --> 00:14:01,799 known. I encourage everybody to look it up. It's spelled la by Rintch, 186 00:14:01,879 --> 00:14:07,440 a little unusual spelling, and it's not a maze. Maze is kind 187 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,600 of a fun. Well, I don't think they're fun, but where you 188 00:14:11,639 --> 00:14:13,120 have to kind of try to find your way out. You go in and 189 00:14:13,159 --> 00:14:18,960 there are dead ends and whatever you find. The path a labyrinth is what's 190 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:24,159 called unicursal structure, which means there's only one path in and there's one path 191 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:30,200 out. So you can't get lost per se in a labyrinth. And I'll 192 00:14:30,279 --> 00:14:33,679 explain the purpose in a moment, but there's an entrance. You walk in 193 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:37,080 eventually to the center, and then you walk back out on the same path. 194 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:43,480 And the labyrinth is used in many different ways. It has been called 195 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:48,159 a walking meditation or a process meditation because you're moving, but you do have 196 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:52,720 to focus and be very much in the moment to make sure that your feet 197 00:14:52,799 --> 00:14:56,240 stay on the path because the path is not straight, it's curved, so 198 00:14:56,279 --> 00:15:00,600 you do have to pay attention to what you're doing. There's a lot of 199 00:15:00,639 --> 00:15:03,840 metaphor in the labyrinth because our path in life is not straight, it's curved, 200 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,960 goes in different directions, but at least in the labyrinth, as I 201 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:11,840 said, you can't get lost, although people do occasionally misstep in the labyrinth 202 00:15:13,039 --> 00:15:16,559 and then they have to find their way back, which you're either going to 203 00:15:16,639 --> 00:15:18,440 go to the middle or you're going to go to the outside, lots of 204 00:15:18,519 --> 00:15:24,840 metaphor there for life. It's also, however, an opportunity to you know, 205 00:15:24,879 --> 00:15:28,200 it's in a well. Labyrinth can be square. In other shapes, 206 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:33,240 many of them are circular. There's a certain spiritual element to circles as well. 207 00:15:33,919 --> 00:15:37,919 So the labyrinth is very, very popular right now. It's it's an 208 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,960 ancient tool, but it's become particularly popular in the last ten years. You 209 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,879 see them popping up, being built at hospitals, schools, churches of old 210 00:15:46,879 --> 00:15:52,519 denominations, parks, and a lot of other public places. So a labyrinth 211 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:58,919 facilitator is someone like myself who learns about labyrinths and not only what they need, 212 00:16:00,279 --> 00:16:03,159 but how to use them, and then guides people individuals or groups and 213 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,799 the use of the labyrinth. So a typical labyrinth experience would be where you 214 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,919 take a moment before you enter the labyrinth, get yourself grounded. You might 215 00:16:12,279 --> 00:16:17,679 ask a question, set an intention, and intention is just maybe you know 216 00:16:17,799 --> 00:16:22,200 how you want the experience to be, and you begin to slowly walk on 217 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,279 the path that is in front of you until you get to the center. 218 00:16:25,799 --> 00:16:32,759 And because because the labyrinth it's not concentric circles, the path may wind in 219 00:16:32,799 --> 00:16:37,559 different directions, but it's still all ultimately going to the same place, so 220 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:41,919 you really can't You don't always know whether how close you are to the center 221 00:16:41,039 --> 00:16:45,600 or to the beginning, which more forces you to kind of just focus on 222 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:49,080 one step in front of the other, to be very mindful and to focus 223 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:53,039 on what you're doing. So there are three parts to a labyrinth walk. 224 00:16:53,159 --> 00:16:57,320 Usually there's lots of different ways to use it. But the path in is 225 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,840 there three are is the path it is releasing, So on your walk in, 226 00:17:03,039 --> 00:17:06,519 you're releasing anything that no longer serves you that you don't want in your 227 00:17:06,559 --> 00:17:08,759 life. You just kind of letting it go. You get to the center 228 00:17:08,799 --> 00:17:12,720 of the circle, it's an opportunity for you to just open up and receive 229 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:18,720 any messages that are there for you, any insights of any type. And 230 00:17:18,759 --> 00:17:25,160 then on the path back, you are returning or assimilating back into your regular 231 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:30,880 life. And sometimes it's just a peaceful, relaxing experience, but sometimes people 232 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:37,000 get incredible insights in the course of walking the labyrinth mindfully, So that's just 233 00:17:37,039 --> 00:17:41,440 a very quick experience. I've met many people and I was probably one of 234 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:48,480 them originally who had encountered labyrinth somewhere walked them but didn't really understand what they 235 00:17:48,519 --> 00:17:52,480 were about or if there was anything I should or shouldn't be doing. So 236 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:57,680 I'm really very excited today to have some knowledge about labyrinth and how to use 237 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:03,480 them and then facilitate. Usually group walks on Labyrinth and World Labyrinth Day is 238 00:18:03,519 --> 00:18:07,599 the first Saturday of May, so for two consecutive years now, I've had 239 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:14,279 hosted a program called Nurses Walking for Wellness. I lead the group in my 240 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:18,319 local area, but I encourage nurses all around the world to have something similar 241 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,119 in their area on that same day. So I say, we're walking for 242 00:18:22,519 --> 00:18:26,599 ourselves, for our profession, and for our patients and for the world. 243 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:33,839 That's wow, that's that's a lot to take in. But that's so incredible. 244 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:37,799 That's amazing, and it's hard to give like a real simple explanation. 245 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:40,720 Yeah, yeah, I tell you what a facilitator does. There's also a 246 00:18:40,759 --> 00:18:47,400 website called Labyrinth Locator, and I believe it's dot com labyrinthlocator dot com, 247 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:51,200 so that you can type in your town, your state, your zip code, 248 00:18:51,359 --> 00:18:55,279 and you can find out if there are any registered labyrinths in the area. 249 00:18:55,279 --> 00:18:57,759 There may be some that aren't on their website. But I've actually found 250 00:18:57,799 --> 00:19:02,799 some great labyrinths through that website. Excellent. I'll include Todd in the show 251 00:19:02,799 --> 00:19:07,480 notes. I'm curious to find. I'm about to in like the next twenty 252 00:19:07,559 --> 00:19:11,279 days, I'll be moving from Minneapolis to Chicago, so I'm really curious to 253 00:19:12,079 --> 00:19:18,039 see what's going on in that general area. So and that's good you mentioned 254 00:19:18,039 --> 00:19:21,200 that, because the labyrinth is it's a great thing to do when you're at 255 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:23,599 any sort of time of transition. It's something good to do with the change 256 00:19:23,599 --> 00:19:27,319 of seasons. Maybe on your birthday, the beginning of a new year. 257 00:19:27,519 --> 00:19:33,240 My birthday is right before my move so yeah, perfect, perfect, Maybe 258 00:19:33,279 --> 00:19:37,759 this is my call to the summer solstice is coming up so later this month, 259 00:19:37,079 --> 00:19:41,759 and some people walk the labyrinth in honor of or in memory of someone. 260 00:19:41,759 --> 00:19:47,319 I've had whole families who come together and walk a labyrinth together in memory 261 00:19:47,319 --> 00:19:51,400 of someone who has passed on. There's lots of different ways that people use 262 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:55,319 the labyrinth. I'm so glad I asked you that question. I feel like 263 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:57,119 they're you know, there's a reason that these things happen. There's a reason 264 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:04,920 these burning questions coming at life, So that that seems like a very interesting 265 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:11,960 role because you know, as nurses, I often the word facilitator to me 266 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:15,519 comes back to my practice a lot because for a very long time, I 267 00:20:15,559 --> 00:20:21,440 worked with patients that were at end of life, and so of course there's 268 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,799 a lot of emotion that comes around that. There's a lot that goes on 269 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,640 at any point in the life span, but very specifically during end of life. 270 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:37,839 And I one of the ways that I helped keep my emotions in check 271 00:20:37,039 --> 00:20:41,599 when I was at the bedside was to remember that I am a facilitator of 272 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:48,000 an experience in a lot of ways, and so there is room for my 273 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,599 emotion, my compassion. But as a facilitator, as you know, it 274 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:57,759 is not about your experience. It is about the experience of those that you 275 00:20:57,839 --> 00:21:04,440 are leading or with or guiding or whatever whatever appropriate word you use. And 276 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:11,240 so I think it's really interesting that you talk about this because as a facilitator, 277 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:15,839 like we're facilitators in so many different roles, you know, And so 278 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:26,400 that doesn't mean that we erase or eliminate our own experiences or our own emotions, 279 00:21:26,519 --> 00:21:30,559 thoughts, preferences, whatever, but it does mean that we need to 280 00:21:30,599 --> 00:21:34,440 make sure that we are remembering what our purpose is in that moment, and 281 00:21:34,519 --> 00:21:38,200 I think, God, yeah, absolutely absolutely, and I think that that's 282 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:45,200 that's something that I feel. A facilitator seems like kind of a generic word 283 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:49,000 or you know, like a job or you know, like I'm a facilitator, 284 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,000 but it's so much more than at and since we are kind of talking 285 00:21:52,039 --> 00:22:00,839 about experiences and spirituality and awakenings and transition, I feel like your role overall 286 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:04,720 has been that of a facilitator and you are very much facilitating for me because 287 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:08,759 I've been trying to consume a lot of your content recently. I mean I've 288 00:22:08,799 --> 00:22:12,519 I've known about you for quite some time, for years, since the early 289 00:22:12,599 --> 00:22:18,160 days of my practice, and now that you know we were, we've decided 290 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:22,400 to have this conversation together. I decided to accelerate that and kind of listen 291 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:26,759 to some more of your talks. I want to talk about your most recent 292 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,119 book, which, forgive me if I'm getting the timeline wrong, but the 293 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:37,160 is falling Together at what point? Which where in line of the four does 294 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:41,079 that fall in? Because I want to talk about your first year as a 295 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,440 nurse, But before we get to that, I want to talk about Falling 296 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,519 Together just briefly, So Falling Together is the fourth book that I wrote. 297 00:22:48,759 --> 00:22:53,039 Okay, okay, and my first three books are there. I wrote them 298 00:22:53,079 --> 00:22:59,240 for nurses there about career and professional development. Actually anybody could benefit from them, 299 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:04,200 but I did them specifically for nurses. Falling Together I wrote for anyone, 300 00:23:04,319 --> 00:23:10,000 and Falling Together the subtitle is how to find balanced joy and meaningful change 301 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,480 when your life seems to be falling apart. If I had to put it 302 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:18,480 in a word, it's about resilience, but it's really about facing life's challenges 303 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:23,200 and rather than letting them knock you down and knock you out, being able 304 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,839 to learn from them, build something, and come back stronger and move on. 305 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:33,279 So the book is often referred to as a self help memoir. It's 306 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:36,920 not pure memoir. It's not just all stories of mine, but I do 307 00:23:37,039 --> 00:23:41,880 share some of my personal experiences in there, not because you may have had 308 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:47,319 my exact experience, but hopefully you can glean lessons learned from the experiences that 309 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:49,839 I've had in the lessons that I've learned, and I do summarize at the 310 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:53,759 end of each chapter. Because my purpose in writing the book was not for 311 00:23:53,839 --> 00:23:59,680 people to learn about me. The purpose was to help other people and to 312 00:24:00,039 --> 00:24:03,559 vigate their way through through their own challenges of life. So at the end 313 00:24:03,559 --> 00:24:07,279 of every chapter, I summarize lessons learned from that particular chapter. In a 314 00:24:07,319 --> 00:24:11,240 more general way, I abstract them from my own story that I might have 315 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:18,039 told, and I do talk about getting going through a terrible divorce shares ago. 316 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:22,039 I talk about being a family caregiver to my current amazing husband who is 317 00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,319 very disabled with MS, and with some other things that happened. I talk 318 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:33,000 about a great lack of self confidence and other things early in my life, 319 00:24:33,079 --> 00:24:40,039 talk about getting started in business, writing and speaking, because sometimes people we 320 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:44,480 tend to do this with people that we perceive are successful. We see them 321 00:24:44,559 --> 00:24:48,759 in what we perceive as their success bubble, and we think, well, 322 00:24:48,799 --> 00:24:52,559 I could never be like them, because they obviously have it all going on, 323 00:24:52,759 --> 00:24:57,240 and they're confident and they whatever. But the person I am today is 324 00:24:57,319 --> 00:25:02,519 because of every thing that I have done before, and especially the last twenty 325 00:25:02,559 --> 00:25:07,599 seven years as a nurse entrepreneur. I was a very different person twenty seven 326 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:11,759 years ago, and certainly when I got started in nursing. So we learn 327 00:25:11,839 --> 00:25:15,079 and we grow and we move forward. And I want people to know that 328 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:18,680 I've had some big, not only big challenges in my life, there have 329 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:23,839 been times when I have just had almost total lack of self confidence and really 330 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:29,599 didn't believe that I could ever do any of the things that I was doing 331 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:33,119 today. So that's part of the reason I share that I have always loved 332 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:40,200 reading biographies of people that I admire, and what I always i would read 333 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:41,920 them Initially, I think, oh, I'd really like to hear more about 334 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:47,119 their life. But what I learned by reading so many biographies is that everybody 335 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:51,160 who has achieved anything in their life that let's just say that I personally admire, 336 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:56,920 they have overcome incredible obstacles and had amazing challenges that I didn't know about. 337 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,880 It was something maybe that wasn't public knowledge or whatever, and I'd be 338 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,400 like, wow, you know, I just assume that the road was paved 339 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:07,960 for them with gold and that's why they're so successful. So, you know, 340 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:12,559 when you hear those stories, I think it gives any of us pause 341 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:17,240 to think, Okay, you know, then maybe I can do this too. 342 00:26:17,799 --> 00:26:21,599 And some of us, again, we live in a you know, 343 00:26:21,599 --> 00:26:25,079 we kind of keep to ourselves. We live a very isolated or a somewhat 344 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:29,680 isolated existence. We don't maybe share our stories or our experiences, and we 345 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,680 think that we're the only one. So I wanted to give voice to my 346 00:26:33,799 --> 00:26:37,359 experience so that I could also speak up for others who maybe don't have the 347 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,960 courage, don't have the words, don't have the opportunity to let their own 348 00:26:41,079 --> 00:26:45,119 voice be heard. I'm hoping that people will read it and say, oh, 349 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,839 my gosh, I know exactly how she felt in that situation because I 350 00:26:48,839 --> 00:26:52,880 have felt that way also, maybe different circumstances, but I have also felt 351 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,279 like that. So and then you know how to be able to move forward 352 00:26:56,359 --> 00:27:00,079 in spite of it or with it. Much of what you just said, 353 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,400 like I'm biting through my tongue to not be like, yes, yes, 354 00:27:03,559 --> 00:27:08,240 that is it. That is it, because it again comes back to that 355 00:27:08,279 --> 00:27:14,079 collective knowledge of nursing. We may not be walking the exact same footsteps, 356 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:18,160 but we all have these in these situations or these instances where we listen to 357 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:23,000 someone talk about their own experience and they're like, I've felt that way, 358 00:27:23,519 --> 00:27:26,720 I've been through that, and we don't, you know, we don't see 359 00:27:26,799 --> 00:27:32,960 what goes on inside of people's experiences, especially when we see people like you 360 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:38,440 said, have become successful. We think they've always been this confident, eloquent, 361 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:44,279 you know, the powerhouse of a person. But a phrase that I've 362 00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,440 heard a lot lately in the last few months is it only takes ten years 363 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:52,319 to become an overnight success. And that is so true. And I think 364 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:57,720 that that's so important for young nurses to hear new nurses, regardless of age 365 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:03,240 or career trajectory. And I think it's also important for nurses to hear that 366 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:07,559 that are, you know, deep into their careers, knowing that you're not 367 00:28:07,759 --> 00:28:12,240 stuck, you're not isolated, you're not alone. There are so many other 368 00:28:12,279 --> 00:28:18,680 people that have had similar experiences, similar emotions. And if we talk about 369 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,319 these things, and we talk about how we handle them, how we struggle, 370 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:27,039 how we stumble, and how we then fall together, then we have 371 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:37,960 at least some kind of like blueprint or indication that there's like a way out 372 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:41,920 of this labyrinth, right, this like ability. Well, yeah, let's 373 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,319 not say labyrinthynth that's different if you're not lost in the labyrinthy. I don't 374 00:28:45,319 --> 00:28:49,839 want to cross metaphors in the maze. Yes, yes, maybe people get 375 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:55,039 those very different, very different. And I'm still learning. So pardon my 376 00:28:55,119 --> 00:28:56,160 slip. No, no, no, that's okay. I just wanted to 377 00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:03,880 I just wanted to clarification. Absolutely, So, I think that it's interesting 378 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,400 that you've come to me at this period of time. And I say that 379 00:29:07,519 --> 00:29:11,519 because you know, of course I've consumed your content. I've listened to the 380 00:29:11,519 --> 00:29:14,559 things you have to say. But it's interesting that we're connecting now because now 381 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,960 I feel like I have. I used to read a lot, but I 382 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:19,920 read a lot of nonfiction. I don't read as much as I used to, 383 00:29:21,039 --> 00:29:22,680 but I'm starting to collect the small stack of books that I want to 384 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:27,319 read, and your book is in there. Now. You have another book 385 00:29:27,519 --> 00:29:30,720 that I would like to speak about, one that was just released. You 386 00:29:30,839 --> 00:29:34,440 released it during Nurses Week because that correct, well, it was a third 387 00:29:34,599 --> 00:29:41,519 edition of Editions. Okay, actually yes, yes, it was forgivened no 388 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,960 forgiveness needed. It was launched officially on May tense. The title is your 389 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:52,079 first year as a nurse, making a transition from total novice to successful professional. 390 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,119 The first edition was the very first book that I wrote, way back 391 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:57,759 when I believe it was released in two thousand or two thousand and one, 392 00:29:59,279 --> 00:30:03,359 and I read ginerally wrote that book that first edition, because I was getting 393 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:07,319 calls from many new nurses who were saying, since I was teaching non traditional 394 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:12,519 and other nursing paths, newer nurses were calling me and saying, Donna, 395 00:30:12,839 --> 00:30:15,799 I'm not cut out for this profession. It's not what I expected. I 396 00:30:15,839 --> 00:30:18,920 don't think I can do this. What else is there for me out there? 397 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,799 And I would initially say to them, Okay, well let's talk first 398 00:30:22,839 --> 00:30:26,480 about what's going on right now? What's going on that you feel you're not 399 00:30:26,519 --> 00:30:30,200 cut out for this? And all and everything they would relate to me was 400 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,519 exactly the same experience that we all have when we're new nurses. But that 401 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:41,559 reality shock of going from nursing education into becoming a licensed professional nurse is it's 402 00:30:41,559 --> 00:30:45,599 a real shock when you get out there, no longer under the protective wing 403 00:30:45,759 --> 00:30:52,039 of your instructor, for example. So I wanted to write a book to 404 00:30:52,319 --> 00:31:00,160 better prepare new nurses to get acclimated to their new profession and to only describe 405 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:04,480 a lot of experiences. But I asked of many many new nurses I wanted 406 00:31:04,519 --> 00:31:08,240 to hear. I wanted to identify what their top ten challenges were as new 407 00:31:08,319 --> 00:31:12,759 nurses and then I wanted to address those and give them ways to make their 408 00:31:12,799 --> 00:31:18,119 way around them. And I also say that the book is all the things 409 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:22,880 they don't have time to teach us in nursing school that we need to be 410 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,759 successful in nursing. And that's in no way a slam against our nurse educators, 411 00:31:26,759 --> 00:31:30,079 our nurse Without our nurse educators, none of us would be nurses. 412 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,920 But they are required in the allotted amount of time and resources that they have 413 00:31:36,359 --> 00:31:41,000 primarily to prepare us for They have to prepare us for entry to practice, 414 00:31:41,319 --> 00:31:45,400 They have to prepare us to pass that end clex RN or that mplex that 415 00:31:45,599 --> 00:31:49,359 end clex LPN, depending on what you're going for exam, and so that's 416 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:53,119 what takes up the time. There is still so many other things that we 417 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:59,599 need to learn, like assimilating into your new work unit, communicating with physicians, 418 00:32:00,079 --> 00:32:02,720 staying positive and upbeat in the midst of negativity and chaos. Not that 419 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:08,119 nursing is negativity and chaos, but we all find ourselves in those situations at 420 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:13,720 different times. So those are just some of the examples of things that I 421 00:32:13,759 --> 00:32:16,279 address in the book. And as I say, it's a lot of things 422 00:32:16,359 --> 00:32:21,880 that we did not learn in nursing school and the book. I wanted to 423 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,599 make the book light and easy to read, because a new nurse has just 424 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:31,039 gone through so much clinical and textbook reading. It's not another textbook. I 425 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:36,519 wanted it to be very commercial, meaning it was easy to read and digest 426 00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,680 and absorb, and I do. The book is not a collection of quotes 427 00:32:39,759 --> 00:32:45,079 from others as some other books are for new nurses. However, I did 428 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:49,920 interview a lot of both new nurses and seasoned nurses, as well as nursing 429 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:54,079 instructors, nurse recruiters, anyone else that's involved in the life of a nurse. 430 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:59,279 And I do have some short stories and some quotes and tips that I 431 00:32:59,359 --> 00:33:02,119 share from them, so it's not just all the Cardillo method or what I 432 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:07,720 have to say about it, but I really collected the best wisdom from everyone. 433 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:12,480 And so the second edition of the book came out around twenty eleven, 434 00:33:12,559 --> 00:33:15,920 twenty twelve, something like that. The book is published by Penguin Random House, 435 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:20,920 which is a very large publisher, which is fabulous, and then so 436 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,079 much has changed, of course in the last ten years, naturally, and 437 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:28,319 so they asked me if I would do a third edition of the book, 438 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,079 which just came out in May, and because the original book was written twenty 439 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:36,920 years ago, there was a lot of revision that needed to be made, 440 00:33:37,519 --> 00:33:42,160 and I added on three brand new chapters. First of all, I interviewed 441 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,319 I always interview a lot of new nurses for another revision, but I particularly 442 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:51,799 interested in speaking to new nurses who started their careers in the midst of the 443 00:33:51,839 --> 00:33:57,359 pandemic, because that is a unique experience in history for any nurse to have 444 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:01,880 been part of, but especially for once starting their practice. And so I 445 00:34:02,039 --> 00:34:07,279 tell a few of those stories in short form in the book and just honestly 446 00:34:07,319 --> 00:34:12,760 just blew me away, not just their experiences, which were unbelievable, but 447 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:22,079 their stamina, their resilience, their altruism, their intelligence. It just really 448 00:34:22,159 --> 00:34:28,440 blew me away and continues to inspire me and renew my faith in future generations 449 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:31,239 of nurses. So the three new chapters that I added that weren't previously in 450 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:37,000 the book. One chapter is titled something like the Empowered Nurse, and it's 451 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,960 really about how to use your voice, how to be assertive, how to 452 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:45,239 become very well acquainted with yourself, your skills, and how to best use 453 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:50,199 them. Another chapter is all about resilience, and resilience is not just pushing 454 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:57,480 yourself until you collapse. Resilience is developing a strong innercore, a spiritual core 455 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,559 that really is going to help you, whether the toughest times, but that 456 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:07,239 is going to help you to recover and then become stronger and to move forward. 457 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,079 We all are going to have challenges in our lives, both professionally and 458 00:35:10,159 --> 00:35:14,880 personally, and resilience is a very important skill. And then the third chapter 459 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:19,639 is all about mindfulness, mindfulness and practice, and mindfulness has been a very 460 00:35:19,679 --> 00:35:24,719 popular subject in the world for a long time, but it's absolutely critical part 461 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:30,519 of a great nursing practice. So those are the new chapters that I added. 462 00:35:30,559 --> 00:35:32,880 Yeah, and the book is available today anywhere books are sold. If 463 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:39,360 I'm a big supporter of local booksellers, especially your community, your small private 464 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:45,280 booksellers, and you know, there's lots of ways to buy books these days, 465 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:46,920 but if they don't carry the book, any of them can order the 466 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:53,039 book for you. Absolutely. And my significant other is a librarian, and 467 00:35:53,119 --> 00:35:58,719 so we are always not just looking to obtain books for ourselves and get others 468 00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:01,079 to buy books, but we're also if you see that there's a lot of 469 00:36:01,119 --> 00:36:05,559 people don't know this. If your local library does not have a book, 470 00:36:06,079 --> 00:36:09,039 or does not have a current edition of a book, you can ask them 471 00:36:09,119 --> 00:36:13,320 to buy it, and oftentimes if they know there's a demand for it, 472 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:15,320 they will buy it. So I just like to throw that out to my 473 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:19,199 listeners every chance I get, because we want people to purchase your book, 474 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:22,079 absolutely, we also want people who maybe don't have access to it to have 475 00:36:22,159 --> 00:36:24,880 access to it to libry. No, that's a great point, and I 476 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:30,920 am a huge cheerleader of the public library and of librarians. I've even written 477 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,000 an article about it, and I talk about it. I'm sure I even 478 00:36:34,039 --> 00:36:39,239 mentioned it several times in my book because there are just and I'm glad you 479 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:43,679 mentioned that, because many people don't know that. Some people don't even know 480 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:47,599 what's that there's a research librarian available to them. Even in many healthcare organizations 481 00:36:47,679 --> 00:36:52,519 we have a health sciences librarian. So there's so many resources out there. 482 00:36:52,559 --> 00:36:55,960 And yes, there's always a way to get the information that you need. 483 00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:02,239 There's many different ways we want your books everywhere. I think so much of 484 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:08,440 what you're sharing is important and obviously needs to be shared. So I want 485 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:14,000 to make sure that new nurses, while all nurses really that are listening to 486 00:37:14,039 --> 00:37:17,599 this understand that what you are doing, that what I look up to, 487 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:22,000 what I admire, is achievable for us. It's like you say, you 488 00:37:22,119 --> 00:37:28,119 just people moving forward in a positive direction. And i'd like to hear before 489 00:37:28,159 --> 00:37:31,840 we wrap up, I'd like to hear if you have any thoughts or advice 490 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:37,039 for nurses that maybe really are kind of feeling the pressure. You know, 491 00:37:37,079 --> 00:37:43,519 we've had wave after wave of pandemic. Resilience and mindfulness are very important, 492 00:37:43,599 --> 00:37:46,840 and it's more than just the superficial stuff that we've talked about, you know, 493 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:53,320 the pushing to exhaustion, the you know, unhealthy coping mechanisms or things 494 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:58,679 that maybe are thought of to be resilience but are not. Do you have 495 00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:04,000 any kind of thoughts for our nurses that maybe are struggling right now and are 496 00:38:04,039 --> 00:38:10,400 struggling to find that place of positivity for themselves. Yeah. Absolutely. First 497 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,679 of all, it's important to understand. I mean, there's so many things 498 00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:16,559 I would love to say right now, so let me try to condense it 499 00:38:16,599 --> 00:38:21,719 as best I can. We in particular, in nursing work in a profession 500 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:25,079 where we are putting out a lot of energy, physical, emotional, and 501 00:38:25,159 --> 00:38:30,039 spiritual energy. And when you have that kind of output, you have to 502 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:36,280 just as passionately work on replenishing that energy. We're human beings, we're not 503 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:43,000 machines. We'll break will break down. And self care is not self indulgence, 504 00:38:43,039 --> 00:38:46,719 it's self respect. Self care is akin to eating and sleeping. It's 505 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:53,800 that important. So when we are working, whether we're new or we're experienced, 506 00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:57,920 whether we've just gone through a hard time or things are going along, 507 00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:04,719 however, we have to make time to do things that not only care for 508 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:08,360 us and nurture us, but that give us joy and build that inner spiritual 509 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:15,199 course. So that includes having fun, diversionary activities that you do outside of 510 00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:19,000 work. It includes taking breaks in the course of your work day and not 511 00:39:19,079 --> 00:39:23,719 sitting at your computer and eating lunch or returning phone calls, but stepping outside 512 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:28,400 for a few minutes, even just getting some fresh air or whatever. It's 513 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:32,960 spending time with friends and laughing and having a good time. It's definitely walking 514 00:39:34,159 --> 00:39:37,480 or you know, walking your dog, things like that. I mean, 515 00:39:37,519 --> 00:39:40,760 there's there's so many things involved in self care. Write about this in both 516 00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:44,519 my book Falling Together, and I also write it, about it, write 517 00:39:44,559 --> 00:39:47,440 about it in your first year as a nurse. So we have to periodically 518 00:39:47,599 --> 00:39:52,639 disengage or step back from what we're doing to recharge our batteries in a whole 519 00:39:52,719 --> 00:39:58,400 variety of ways, whatever brings us joy and peace and fun and laughter and 520 00:39:58,519 --> 00:40:01,679 rest, so that we can more passionately re engage in our work. It's 521 00:40:01,719 --> 00:40:05,760 not optional, it's not a luxury, it's not pampering. It's not a 522 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:08,840 reward. It's routine maintenance for the body, the mind, and the spirit. 523 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:15,840 The other thing is nurses who feel that they're powerless or stuck or whatever, 524 00:40:16,079 --> 00:40:20,320 and people we all fall into a rut periodically in our life or our 525 00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:24,039 work. You're never stuck anywhere. As we mentioned earlier, there are unlimited 526 00:40:24,079 --> 00:40:29,320 opportunities. But it doesn't even mean that you have to change jobs. Look 527 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,239 for opportunities. You always want to be learning and growing, So in your 528 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:37,159 current place of employment, look to get on a committee of some sort that 529 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:42,199 interests you, not out of any sense of loyalty to your employer, but 530 00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:45,719 do it for what's in it for you. You may learn that something new, 531 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:50,199 you'll learn something maybe that you're good at. You'll get feedback or maybe 532 00:40:50,199 --> 00:40:52,920 you'll even learn something that you don't want to do. But committee work is 533 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:59,559 a great thing to do to develop yourself personally and professionally, and just because 534 00:40:59,559 --> 00:41:02,360 we don't have endless time. The other thing I want to say is it's 535 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:07,440 very important to join and get active in your nursing professional associations because it is 536 00:41:07,440 --> 00:41:14,320 through our associations that we create community in nursing, and without that community, 537 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,320 you may survive, but you will never thrive in this profession. So that 538 00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:22,960 includes the American Nurses Association, the national as well as the state chapter. 539 00:41:23,079 --> 00:41:29,719 It includes your specialty associations, whether it's the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses or 540 00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:34,320 the American Holistic Nurses Association or whatever that might be. And then there are 541 00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:37,840 organizations such as the Association of Nurse Leaders. You don't have to have an 542 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:42,960 official leadership title to belong to that. In the back of my book Your 543 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:46,760 First Year as a Nurse, in fact, I have extensive resources listed as 544 00:41:46,800 --> 00:41:52,960 well as links to learn about those associations because I am amazed and how many 545 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:58,400 even experienced nurses don't realize all the associations that are out there, or that 546 00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:04,280 there's an association related to their specialty. That's how you meet people, right, 547 00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,840 that's how you that's also how you meet people. But you also absolutely 548 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:12,159 and you have to be plugged into a pipeline of information. Things are rapidly 549 00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:15,880 changing. Oh yeah, that's not just clinical expertise, but but legal issues, 550 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:21,960 licensing issues, just so many different things. So you've got to be 551 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:27,119 plugged in to a pipeline of information to stay on top of everything that's happened. 552 00:42:27,159 --> 00:42:30,800 True, Yes, that is such valuable information. I mean even I 553 00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:35,320 can benefit from that. I know, go ahead, go ahead. I 554 00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:37,960 just wanted to mention one thing because I know we're almost out of time. 555 00:42:37,519 --> 00:42:42,480 And I mentioned earlier that I do retreats for nurses, So this is part 556 00:42:42,519 --> 00:42:45,599 of self care, but it's also me finding some things that bring me joy 557 00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:51,440 in my life. I do periodic I have several weekend long retreats for nurses 558 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,320 every year. Those are all on my website under the events tab. And 559 00:42:54,400 --> 00:43:00,440 I do a program called Empowered Nurse Enlightened Practice. And I I think I 560 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:04,159 mentioned this earlier and when I was introducing myself, but I have one coming 561 00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:07,840 up in September at the Beautiful Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts, which is 562 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:12,719 nestled in the Berkshire Mountains there. I do them at different locations, but 563 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:15,239 that's something to check out as well. And that is a great way to 564 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:20,719 not only disengage for a couple of days really nurture yourself, but to be 565 00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:24,000 with a community of like minded nurses. And it's life changing for everyone who 566 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:29,039 comes. Sounds wonderful. Donna, will you give us your website again? 567 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:31,800 Absolutely? Now, you might want to write this down because it's tricky. 568 00:43:32,039 --> 00:43:38,400 It's donnacardillo dot com. Just kidding about the tricky part. Donnacardillo dot com. 569 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:42,880 I wanted to make it easy to remember. And yeah, I have 570 00:43:43,119 --> 00:43:45,480 a new design on my website. We just launched that within the last couple 571 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:50,679 of months. And on my website, if you click on the nurses tab 572 00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:57,559 there there's a whole huge resources of articles, totally free articles for new nurses, 573 00:43:57,639 --> 00:44:04,320 experienced nurses, everything in between, personal and professional development, career development. 574 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:07,039 There's even a free webinar there about the language of nursing, how we 575 00:44:07,079 --> 00:44:13,320 speak about ourselves and our work. I have a long long page of books 576 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,920 by nurse authors. I have a long long page of nurse entrepreneurs because I 577 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:21,920 am also an advocate for the profession, and I want to have all that 578 00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:25,199 information available. There are lots more there too, and we add other things 579 00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:30,840 periodically. So I also post on social media every day. It's where I 580 00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:34,760 see you, that's where I found you. I love it. I have 581 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:37,480 a personal Facebook page. Feel free to friend me there. I have a 582 00:44:37,679 --> 00:44:42,360 Facebook page for nurses. I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on Twitter, I'm on 583 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:47,400 Instagram. Every day I post something positive, uplifting, inspirational. That's another 584 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:52,199 way to stay uplifted because we have so much negativity around us, and we 585 00:44:52,239 --> 00:44:58,800 want to expose ourselves to as much positivity and inspiration. We all have to 586 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:02,320 do it. We're naturally negative by nature. We need that positive influence in 587 00:45:02,360 --> 00:45:07,639 our life every day. That's absolutely true. I will link all of that 588 00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:10,920 in the show notes. I want people that absolute People can sign up to 589 00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:14,960 be on my website too, and you'll learn about, you know, any 590 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:19,079 new books I have coming out, events coming up in your area, when 591 00:45:19,119 --> 00:45:22,039 I have something else new that comes out. But by all means, follow 592 00:45:22,079 --> 00:45:24,639 me on social media, and I welcome your listeners to get in touch with 593 00:45:24,679 --> 00:45:29,480 me if they would like to speak to me. I am open to phone 594 00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:31,360 calls. My phone never rings anymore, not because I don't have any business, 595 00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:37,760 but everybody likes to use the keyboard these days. But I'm totally open 596 00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:40,800 to a five or ten minute phone conversation. We can actually get a lot 597 00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:45,159 done in a five or ten minute phone conversation, more so than we can 598 00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:51,119 messaging back and forth or emailing. And if anybody ever reaches out to me 599 00:45:51,199 --> 00:45:53,239 and I don't get back to you, it's not because I purposely ignore you. 600 00:45:53,639 --> 00:45:59,400 I do sometimes get a lot of messages and it's hard to keep track 601 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:01,559 of them all. So follow up. That's a big lesson for life. 602 00:46:01,599 --> 00:46:06,000 If you want to get in touch with somebody and they don't respond to you, 603 00:46:06,039 --> 00:46:08,320 then you follow up with them. There's an expression that says the fortune 604 00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:13,440 is in the follow up. Yes, absolutely, well, I'm so glad 605 00:46:13,519 --> 00:46:16,000 that I've followed up with you because this has been a wonderful conversation. I 606 00:46:16,039 --> 00:46:20,559 am so grateful that you came to talk to me and my audience today, 607 00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:25,079 and I hope that we get to do it again. I will be definitely 608 00:46:25,119 --> 00:46:30,199 reading your book. I've already gleaned so much from this conversation just today, 609 00:46:30,559 --> 00:46:34,920 and I've taken little notes for myself. So I'm very excited to follow up 610 00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:37,760 with some of these things. And again, thank you so much. Wonderful, 611 00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:40,840 it's been my pleasure. All my best to you and thank you very 612 00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:45,679 much. Thank you so much, and everyone please go to Nursing onsnsor dot 613 00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:52,400 com check out the website for past posts, episodes, blog posts, all 614 00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:57,599 sorts of content that I have accrewed there. So thank you again for listening, 615 00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:00,840 and I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Please remember to stay inspired. 616 00:47:01,079 --> 00:47:07,960 Thank you, Donna by pleasure, Thank you. The Nursing Uncensored podcast, 617 00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:12,079 like nursing itself, can be intense. We don't censor, but we 618 00:47:12,159 --> 00:47:15,440 do protect private health. Information has been changed and concealed to comply with her 619 00:47:15,559 --> 00:47:20,880 book. We're not talking about your memor, your boss's wife, or anyone 620 00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:23,960 you might know. Also, we're real health professionals trying to give you factual 621 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:29,840 information. However, you are responsible for doing your own research and not taking 622 00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:34,599 anything day as medical advice. The opinions expressed here are the responsibility of the 623 00:47:34,639 --> 00:47:38,960 person expressing them and do not reflect those of our employers, educational or professional 624 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:44,159 institutions. I hope you learned something, laughed, a little, and that 625 00:47:44,239 --> 00:47:44,920 you'll come back