Thankful Thursday | Let’s add some contributions

Reader Elizabeth Y. sent me an Instagram reel of Adam Grant talking about the idea of adding a contribution journal to your gratitude journal.

He said that a gratitude journal can end up being a little bit passive if you just keep track of nice things that happen to you. But adding a contribution journal helps you think about what you did to make the world a better place, and that’s a nice not-so-passive addition to your mental health toolbox. Realizing that you are capable of making a difference is both motivating and cheering.

I love this concept, and I think I have sometimes done this without really articulating the idea or realizing what I’m doing.

For instance, I have felt:

• grateful that I could help Zoe with her taxes
• grateful that I could listen to a friend share about a bad day
• grateful I could help a classmate understand a concept
• grateful I could help the many readers who message me with divorce/difficult marriage issues

Also, almost every time I finish a work shift at the hospital, I drive home thinking, “Man, I love my job!” and largely it is because I feel like I am making a contribution.

For instance, last week, I successfully turned things around for a patient because I figured out a small way to fix an irritation for her. Like magic, her entire mood changed.

Doing things like that is deeply satisfying to me; like figuring out a tricky puzzle. It is a challenge to know how to get the right combination of taking care of physical needs while also taking care of a person’s heart and soul, but doing that is one of my favorite ways to make a contribution in the world. 

And like Adam Grant said, this is motivating! I want to figure out this puzzle again and again, and since I take care of new patients all the time, I am constantly presented with new puzzles to solve. Each success makes me want to keep trying.

So! If you want to, include some ways you made a contribution in the world this week. 🙂 What did you do that might show up in someone else’s gratitude list?

This week, I am thankful:

for some sun and blue skies

We had a string of cloudy days, and you know how that makes me feel: A LITTLE BIT SAD.

But the sun came out again, and I don’t care that it’s cold. I’m just happy there are blue skies. 

that my hospital is not going to make me work lots of overnights

I will have to do some training shifts for overnights, since the overnight role is a bit different than the daytime role. But since my managers all know I vastly prefer days, it sounds like my regular overnight work will be fairly minimal.

YAYYYYY!

I am never going to be a person who thrives at night. If it’s dark out, I want to be in bed with my eyes shut. 😉

that I feel so good about the job I accepted

I bucked conventional wisdom a little bit by only applying to one job and accepting the first offer I got.

But I feel so sure that this is right for me. I have been at enough hospitals and on enough floors to know what I like and what I don’t like, and that makes me confident!

 

Also, since I have worked on this floor for nearly a year, I know what I am getting into and I know it’s what I want.

for mosses

I loooove them.

that there are varying ways to work as a nurse

I shadowed in the ICU last Sunday and it confirmed for me that ICU nursing is not my jam. From my work as a tech and from clinical, I know I like it when I can talk to my patients and they can talk to me.

I don’t want intubated and sedated patients!

But the nurse I was shadowing said she could never work on a floor like where I work; she prefers the ICU life.

And that reminded me how nice it is that we enjoy different types of nursing; it would be a disaster if we all wanted ICU or we all wanted PACU. 

that I have 31 days left

You knew the countdown was gonna be in here, right?

We are almost in the 20s!!

that I only have four more weekends of clinicals

I can hardly remember what it’s like to not have every weekend spent at the hospital. Soon, soon!

that I’ll be able to go to the symphony again

My symphony attendance has been distressingly low because of my weekend schedule…I just can’t make it work. But as soon as I’m done with clinical, you know I’ll be doing my bougie on a budget thing, frequenting the symphony hall. 😉

a contribution: I was able to help at a nursing open house last night

I answered a last-minute call for nursing students to help with an open house at school. So, I spent a few hours meeting prospective students, answering questions, and showing them around the labs. 

It made me feel good to contribute this way; to use my experience as an almost-graduate to help people considering nursing school.

What are you thankful for this week? And if you want to share, what’s a contribution you made to the world this week? 

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