On de-stressing at 0300.

thumbnail_growingnursedebiFBheader-cranberrycopy I can’t even put into words how stressful the last few weeks have been. From a nursing perspective, life has been a chaotic nightmare. This past weekend was no exception. Our unit is full right now of very sick, very complicated patients. Each case is completely different from the next, but one common denominator is that they all just have so much going on. So much.

So much for a nurse to keep track of … so many things to watch for … so much to do … so many ringing phones … so much beeping … so many interruptions. Every shift has just been full of stress unimaginable. But, thankfully, every shift also finally ends, and we can leave all that behind and go home.

From a “life” perspective, though, things have been rough lately, too. I have been pretty much “checked out” for the last two weeks dealing with my own illness. Thankfully, things seem to be better controlled now, and I’m hopefully on the upswing again. You just don’t know how thankful I am to be able to say that. I never, ever take the gift of an upswing for granted. No, I don’t.

This morning, though, after coming out of working a weekend such as I did, I’m realizing just how far behind I am at all the “life stuff” because of my flare. So my brain woke me up at 0300 with internal alarms screaming about all that I need to do today to get caught up. I tried to will them away and go back to sleep, but it just wasn’t happening. So I finally got up.

Every morning starts with spending time with God, no matter what ridiculous time I get up. This is where I get my strength. Today, though, my mind was racing so much that I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I just could not stop the racing. So I turned on some music and decided to make some lists to clear my mind.

Anyways, this song “Give Me Jesus” by Fernando Ortega came first on my playlist and it was just what I needed to hear. God sent this song to me this morning to quiet me down. To still my racing thoughts. To draw me back to him. Believe me, it put everything right back in its rightful place.

I know that a lot of people post links on social media, and that a lot of us just scroll right past them and don’t take the time to listen. I’m guilty, too.

I also know that a lot of us are feeling the stress right now. It’s just the sad stain that life in this era has put on Christmas. How much we’ve lost by allowing this to happen!

“Growing Nurse Debi” was born out of God’s planting the desire in my heart to share what He’s teaching me through my recent life changes. I only write about what has touched me personally – what I’m currently struggling with – what’s drawing me closer to God and helping me find the peace to cope.

I believe there are others out there who are feeling the same way as me right now, no matter what your circumstances may be. I pray this helps someone else the way it has helped me this morning. I believe we all need this right now.

So, please, consider starting your morning by taking the time to close your eyes and let the message of this beautiful song speak to your heart. It sure soothed mine today.

Thanks so much for growing with me.