Life Gets Tough, But the Tough Get Going

          I have been taking my own advice and listening to some positive speakers. The 2 I am listening 2 now are Zig Ziglar and many, many of Anthony Robbins'. Life has been tough ( I am one of two caretakers for my mother-inlaw who now has dementia and a brain tumor) but I am stayin' on the train that focuses on the now, the good and the affirmatives and on the great potentials and dreams. I have learned, as a central theme, action does speak louder than words. One must have a plan(s) with goals and strategies to gain the desired goals. One must follow their action plan(s) step by step and along the way, visualize failures as mere learning experiences not catastrophies.  One must keep positive thoughts flooding into their mind and move forward towards their goal(s) with a sense of urgency and certainty. A most important action to take is to reward oneslf for any action steps taken, no matter how big or small that reward. One must always live with passion and stay in the present working towards a better future. Yep, I'm on that train. I am going to make this consulting business take off. I am well on my way. My foundation is almost completed. All the gut work with starting a business is nearly completed. My 90 day marketing plan is complete and all my marketing materials procured. I have never worked so hard in my life (except for my Master's degree). I am still working full time while doing my consulting apprenticeship. This time I have a mentor who is checking my work and  advising me while I move at a rapid pace. She said the professional resume I did (geared towards lawyers) was about the best she has ever seen. Yeh! I am on my way!I designed my own brochure,  business card and letterhead. I have a website. I have a business email. I have a business manual with all of the documents I have created (mission, vision, and goals, etc.), my USP (Unique Selling Points), end-user agreement, sample reports I have written for marketing, and a copy of my two page website. I intend to keep adding to this book as a diary of sorts and as a business marketing book to pull from when pursuing clients. Taley-ho! Here I go! My marketing plan begins May 1. I go part-time at work May 5. I want THIS dream, this goal of becoming a super successful Legal Nurse Consultant to come true- to see its fruition. I know it will.
Catalyst Nurse Legal Consulting & Associates, LLC
www.catalyst4nlc.com
catalyst4nlc@gmail.com

The ER

Working in an emergency room as an RN is iextremely stressful. Why then do I choose to do it? Because there is a knowledge base there that covers all aspects of the human body, its spirit and it's mind. It is a place to learn prioritization, depersonalization, and patience. It is special when one can go one more step and learn empathy and compassion. They are difficult feelings at times to touch, to feel.
The patient populations and their diversities can be overwhelming. There are 'regulars' that come in only to test you one more foot. There are 'group' types that come in that take all the patience you have. Still you are there for the patients, yet they are not always caring of that fact.They may just want drugs or a meal or simply attention. They may need a place to stay or a place to come to get cleaned up and the have their wounds tended. They may only need to get away from uncaring family members or abusive ones.
 Someone once told me that 90% of ER patients are not that ill and that the other 10% need the ER's services. Interesting. I am seeing differently. What I do see are patients who have BEEN sick chronically and just decide to come in on any given day for any kind of treatment. Some don't even know how sick they are. Some leave when they find out without being treated.
We still have the problems of the patients who have no insurance who come to the ER for the smallest things and those without insurance who wait too long to come in and are very seriously ill. It is a chronic problem for the taxpayer but something all ER's must do based on EMTALA laws. No patient is to be turned away for lack of ability to pay.
What is aggrevating is the number of patients who are on methadone but take none of their other meds to be well. Addiction is an ugly animal. Addiction effects a good portion of our clientele in one way or another. What many do not know is that due to computerized medical records, physicians can track months and years back where a patient has been and for what. A physician then can tell who is drug-seeking through visitation patterns with various ailments. Interesting stuff huh?
Nurses are now more aloof of being abused in an ER setting. Demanding or manipulative, aggressive or violent, patients come in all shapes and sizes of psychological states. And then there are those patients who are just mean by nature who feel you owe them something when you just met. But there are those patients who are kind and appreciative of everything you do for them. My mother was one such type of patient. She is the angel who watches over me as I trudge through the cacophony and conundrums.

Passing Tests

I passed a test today. Not my usual score mind you, but an 88% none the less. It was a written test for PALS certification. The acronym stands for pediatric advanced life support. So now I am the holder of a basic CPR 'card', an ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) card, AND the PALS card. These are all requirements of the ER in which I work, so it is no surprise for me to have them. The last two were just very difficult to pass for someone who suffers for intermittent low self-confidence. It did not help that I had had no time to study properly due to a course of events. My daughter was in town the weekend before last and I had doctor's appointments and my 12 hour shifts to do in rows. I have been exhausted, mostly due to nerves, having no real down time. My acid reflux has been acting up; I had palpitations, AND I had a migraine headache which left me with a four-day headache afterwards. The positive in all this-another feather in my cap and some added cement to build stronger, brick by brick, my walls of confidence.

When a Mistake Hurts

I made a mistake today and I learned from it. It was a big mistake. One that hurt only me very deeply. I wish I could take it back, but then would I have learned from it? Mistakes are 'oops' moments that are either trivial or ginormous. Today's mistake was ginormous. I ache from it. I am sullen and taken aback. I will be so sad for a few days and then, knowing myself as I do, I will be pensive to the core for months over it. It wasn't even an accidental happening. I knew I was making a mistake when I did it. Now I am weary and somewhat devastated. I have hurt myself so badly doing this, an action involving myself alone. How can we sometimes be so short-sighted when we make decisions. We Americans are instant gratifiers and yes...you don't know what you've got till it's gone and.....it is true that if you have your health, you have just about everything. No I did not harm anyone in the least. I simply made a bad decision to act on an illusive feeling. Feelings are transitory.

A Job Is A Job Is A Job

What is it about some nights when you just loathe the thought about going to work the next day? A job is a job is a job right? We have to go to live...or is it 'live to work and work to live? A job is a place where you socialize, provide a service and make money. No more. It shapes many an identity. If you are a physician, you are healing the sick. If you are a teacher, you are expanding minds. But still, most jobs are an extended expenditure which leave us physically and emotionally tired by the end of the night or day. We try to focus on fun things, healthy things to do imbetween work days, but many of us find it arduous to attempt. I suppose the answer is to take all in stride. Do your best when you are at work or find another job. Try to have fun on your days off (to liquidate your stressors), and try to always be thinking of ways to do something each day which either makes us happy or is good for us. Labor on...........

The Funerals at Midlife

I never realized as a child or even as a teenager what my parents must have gone through losing classmates and friends and their parents. I realized their pain as I became a mother myself and was old enough at that point to understand the sting of losing friends. It was a parallel; the older they became the more of their friends and family members they lost. Of course my parents were fortunate enough to live into their eighties. But was it fortune? It had to become a sort of lonliness that multiplied as your best friends, your parents, and even aquaintenences pass on. I know one man, a friend to my parents (who are now both gone) approaching 80, who exemplifies my thought. He asked, "Whose going to come to my funeral?" He has buried his parents, sisters and brothers and friends. I think as one approaches midlife, it begins to really 'sink in'. The midlife funerals. A time when one realizes the brevity of life and the gift that it really is.

Where Is Our Security?

I am amazed at the lack of physical security we still have in this country. All these shooters. Where are our heroes? We have computer mainframes afire, satelites echoing information, but where are the people? They are behind all of the security- but where are those who need to be out front? Every public facility needs beefy security people at every entrance, exit, and lonely area. Jack up the volume and spit out the numbers. Create THESE jobs. Security ablaze. I wouldn't mind it; I would appreciate it, much like bouncers in bars. They provide one with a sense of security amidst the drunks and troublemakers. We need more heroes. We need to spread out more security personnel to provide us with more eyes and ears in what is becoming such a bullied country.