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mental health, mental health, nursing, podcast, podcast, self help

How Coronavirus Saved My Life Podcast- episode 33: the boundary

August 27, 2022 Christine Zethraus, PMHNP

Christine Zethraus, PMHNP

Picture of the word "boundary" spelled out — **Listen to episode 33 about boundaries. Boundaries = Self-Love**

Summary

Were you taught it’s ok to say “No” in childhood? Were you taught it’s ok to speak up for your needs? Neither was I.

Teaching myself how to set boundaries is a work in progress. My narcissistic mother crossing my boundary for the last time was my key to emotional freedom and authentic worthiness.

In this solo episode, I cover all things boundaries.

Rule of Thumb: Those who react the loudest when a boundary is set is evidence the boundary was needed in the first place (read this again).

Topics Covered:

What is a boundary?
Why boundaries are important to your well-being
4 types of boundaries
Signs a boundary is crossed
How to set a boundary
My personal examples and emotional impact when I didn’t set boundaries

Listen, Download, and Share Christine’s Podcast:How Coronavirus Saved My Life

Connect with Christine on Twitter | Instagram | Blog | Youtube | FB

Check out Christine’s podcast with her sisterThe Family Burrito

Big hugs to all the listeners! My little podcast to help the world heal is starting to reach the ears and hearts of people around the world!

Disclaimer: The information and recommendations in this Podcast are only opinions of the host and guests of How Coronavirus Saved My Life Podcast — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/howcoronavirussavedmylife/message

Check out my blog about boundaries:

https://howcoronavirussavedmylife.com/2022/07/20/6-reasons-why-its-important-to-set-boundaries/

black mental health, community, conversation, mental health, podcast

episode 31: the adversity (Healing Cycles of Abuse with Chris Allen)

June 22, 2022June 22, 2022 Christine Zethraus, PMHNP

Summary

What does the word adversity mean to you? Chris Allen is the definition of overcoming adversity.

A powerful follow up conversation with my new friend Chris Allen. His honesty, vulnerability, transparency, and directness about his difficult childhood filled with abuse and chaos inspires me to be more vulnerable and transparent about my own story.

Chris and I tell discuss losing our virginity at a young age, Chris’s former approach to sex and intimacy before meeting his beautiful wife, and his father’s suspicious suicide. And the weird thing Chris and I have in common! Find out the ONE question Chris COULD NOT answer at the end.

Listen to our first conversation episode 28: the reframe

Topics discussed:

Codependency
Perfectionism
PTSD
anxiety, imposter syndrome
toxic friends

Chris Allen is the CEO & Co-Founder of Advanced Computing and Technology, Father, Husband, and more!

Chris Allen’s Advanced Computing and Technology Website | Email chris@advcomptechs.com | Number

Listen, Download, and Share Christine’s Podcast:How Coronavirus Saved My Life

Connect with Christine on Twitter | Instagram | Blog | Youtube | FB

Check out Christine’s podcast with her sisterThe Family Burrito

Big hugs to all the listeners! My little podcast to help the world heal is starting to reach the ears and hearts of people around the world!

Transcription

bullies, community, conversation, culture, podcast, self help, Society

episode 27: the bully (Conversation with Advocate for Bullied Children, Author and Blogger Cherie White)

May 2, 2022May 2, 2022 Christine Zethraus, PMHNP

Summary

This week I had a conversation with my new friend, blogger and author Cherie White, who is an Advocate for Bullied Children and Teenagers. Cherie’s personal childhood story of being bullied for 6 years after moving to a small town in Tennessee is heartbreakingly powerful. From a slow progression to constant violence. Her mission now is “Exposing Bullies and Liberating Targets to Make The World a Safer Place for All“. I learned so much about the intimation tactics of bullies. The non-verbal communication tactics of bullies blew my mind! Taking her power back has led to her mission and purpose. Just WOW!

Follow and connect with Cherie’s BLOG | https://cheriewhite.blog/

Cherie’s Books | From Victim to Victor Memoir | Townies, Cronies and Hayseeds |Kids Under the Latch Key | The Vow of Chastity Baker

Cherie’s Topics Discussed:

How constant Fight or Flight effects you physically
Why the school sides with the bully
Cult mentality of bullies
The rite of passage bully belief
How to take your power back
How female bullies operate
How bullies use triangulation
Why bullies use gaslighting
How to mirror the bully’s body language

Thank you to all my listeners! My little podcast I made to help the world heal is starting to reach the ears and hearts of people around the world! Big hugs!

Christine’s Resources:

Please Listen, Download, and Share Christine’s Podcast: How Coronavirus Saved My Life

Connect with Christine on Twitter| Instagram

How Coronavirus Saved My Life Blog

Email me at: Christine@Howcoronavirussavedmylife.com

The Family Burrito Podcast here

Disclaimer: The information and recommendations in this Podcast are only opinions of the host and guests of How Coronavirus Saved My Life Podcast — This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/howcoronavirussavedmylife/message

episode 22: the mania (Conversation with Melissa Llarena About What It’s Like Being Raised By A Mother With Severe Bipolar Disorder)

Burnout symptoms and contributing factors

mental health, nursing, podcast, self help

episode 26: the burnout

April 26, 2022April 26, 2022 Christine Zethraus, PMHNP

Summary

In this episode of How Coronavirus Saved My Life podcast, is my personal story of burnout as a nurse.

Burnout is real. Burnout is definitely real if you’re a healthcare worker. Then throw additional gasoline on burnout if you’re a nurse working in the pandemic. Double the gasoline if you’re a nurse working on a covid unit.

Listen to my journey of why I became a nurse, the life changing events of 2001 leading me to my calling, and the surprising person who always encouraged me to become a nurse.

Check out my Blog Post about Burnout.

Topics:

Nurse Burnout
Why I choose nursing
The slow rollercoaster of burnout starting in nursing school
Baby nurses vs veteran nurses
Nurses eating their young
The ICU environment filled with stressful noises, constant fight or flight, emotional impact of telling family members their loved one died,
The acuity of an inpatient psychiatric unit
How long covid symptoms forced me to make myself a priority
Forgetting to put myself on the list

Mayoclinic.org Job Burnout Questions here.

Thank you to all my listeners! My little podcast I made to help the world heal is starting to reach the ears and hearts of people around the world! Big hugs!

Christine’s Resources:

Please Listen, Download, and Share Christine’s Podcast: How Coronavirus Saved My Life

How Coronavirus Saved My Life Podcast on Twitter

How Coronavirus Saved My Life Podcast on Instagram

How Coronavirus Saved My Life Blog

Email me at: Christine@Howcoronavirussavedmylife.com

Transcription

mental health, mental health, nursing, podcast, self help

9 Common Burnout Symptoms of a Healthcare Worker

April 18, 2022April 18, 2022 Christine Zethraus, PMHNP

My Nursing Journey of Burnout in Healthcare

April 18, 2022 by Christine Zethraus, PMHNP-BC

How Working in Healthcare has Impacted my Emotional and Physical Well-being

My Burnout Beginning

Burnout is REAL. Burnout is definitely real if you’re a healthcare worker. Then throw additional gasoline on burnout if you’re a nurse working in the pandemic. Double it if you’re a nurse working the ICU.

Before I became a Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, I worked as an ICU nurse for 5 years in a Level I Trauma Center. What does a “Level I Trauma Center” mean? Level I Trauma Center means my patients had a variety of life-threatening critical injuries such as gunshot wounds, car wrecks, plane crashes, strokes, sepsis, etc. Think constant extreme stress (fight or flight).

I purposely choose to work in the ICU because I knew this intense training and experience would be beneficial for my planned advanced nursing school. Quite frankly I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Looking back, I’m actually grateful I was naïve about my new adventure because this was the beginning of my nurse burnout story. The beginning of my nursing burnout signs affecting my emotional and physical well-being.

Hint: I didn’t listen or see the burnout signs.

Pandemic Burnout

Fast forward 12 years later where I am now a Mental Health Nurse Practitioner working during the Covid-19 Pandemic dealing with a different kind of trauma. An emotional one. And I’m not just talking about my patients. My own personal emotional trauma of FEAR. Fear of getting covid, fear we are all going to die, fear I would need heart surgery because of my long covid symptoms, fear there would be no food on the shelves, fear my lung damage due to long-covid, fear my family would die, and fear the world was ending.

**Fear was the dominate emotion during the pandemic**

I made the assumption my healthcare professional burnout was because of working during the pandemic. Nope. My burnout started long before working in mental health during the pandemic. My burnout started in nursing school when I put everyone and everything else before my own well-being. My burnout started when I was not myself a priority.

I first noticed my burnout symptoms when I had Coronavirus then Long-Covid Symptoms in 2020. Having Long-Covid forced me to slow down, forced me to re-evaluate what’s important, forced me to make myself priority. I had no other choice because I was on a path to chronic illness, auto-immune disease and most likely early death.

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