How Nurses Can Stay Positive In A Negative Environment

Nurses employed in a negative work environment can find their ability to give quality patient care difficult.

Situations in which high stress, belittlement, or harassment, exemplify work environments that can be discouraging.

An enormous part of being a happy, healthy nurse is the mindset. Mindset work is the core of leading a positive life, as a nurse but also as an overall person.

It’s so important to stay positive in a negative environment.

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What kind of negative environment are we talking about?

Well, an environment that disvalues taking breaks, work-life balance, and teamwork is considered negative.

Unfortunately, there are numerous nursing environments like this- it’s the nature of the beast.

Nursing is an intense and demanding profession. There isn’t any space for sensitivity, laziness, or anything less than hard work.

With such high demands, many environments are bound to become negative since they’re creating and contributing to negative cultures.

Oftentimes, you may not be able to just quit and find a new job just like that, or you do see potential in a place but you have to get through the thick of it.

On the contrary, it’s also good to know what a positive nursing work environment looks like for reference.

Effective Ways You Can Stay Positive

Staying positive impacts your entire life. It influences how you feel, how you’ll act, and how you build relationships with others.

It gives you back control instead of giving the environment control. We can’t change an entire environment through and through, so it’s important we can focus on what we can change- how positive we are!

So now let’s learn how to stay positive in a negative environment!

It doesn’t come naturally or easily for most, so you will have to make conscious efforts to do so.

It’s fair to say that positivity, especially in nursing, is crucial to living a happy and healthy life. Let me show you some ways to stay positive!

Control what you can control

It’s important to recognize within ourselves that we simply cannot control it all.

With that being said, still control what you can control, and accept the rest will figure itself out.

Getting hung up on wishing you could control certain things that you can’t just stresses you out.

If you’re in a negative environment, think about what is under your control. A few examples are:

your mindset
offering solutions
distancing yourself
voicing concerns
prioritizing yourself
asking for what you need

Detach if you’re feeling too involved

It is alarmingly easy to forget that your nurse life and regular life are two different things.

Oftentimes, they blend together and we start to feel like work is our entire lives. This especially happens if you are working in a negative environment.

Negativity has a way to creep inside of you and sort of… well, consume you.

It’s a lot easier to focus on the negative than the positive. I wish it wasn’t!

But because it is, you need to recognize if you are too consumed.

Taking a step back is important from time to time. Besides, your nursing job is still just a job, despite it being really important to you.

You have a lot of things outside of the workplace that holds high priority, so detach if you’re feeling too involved in your work environment.

And yes, this may even mean requesting some much-needed PTO.

Learn rapport versus friendship

Oftentimes, you may confuse being friends with a colleague instead of keeping it professional/respectful.

Look, you do NOT have to be friends with anyone at work. People just seem to put this pressure on themselves about that.

All you need to do is build rapport with your colleagues so you can get the job done well and go home.

I know it sounds super dull and dry, but this is key to remaining positive at work.

Do not take things personally. People around you are there to work, and so are you.

Refocus on taking care of yourself

The core and absolute purpose of this blog is to take care of yourself! As nurses, we are tirelessly giving to others.

All good things come out of taking care of yourself, even learning how to stay positive in a negative environment.

Your mind opens up more, you manage your emotions better, and your perspective on situations are more clear.

This is one of my favorite ways to stay positive.

Remember your impact

Remember when I said it’s easy to get lost in your nursing career?

Too often we forget the impact we have on other people. What nurses do is profound, so don’t you forget that.

This is a positive thought that will pull you up when you are in the trenches.

A negative environment can cloud your judgment and make you feel like everything is negative. Fill your mind with positive thoughts, and they will take hold of your mood.

Consider the source

Instead of thinking of things as a dead end, start thinking about them as a challenge that has a solution.

Think about the source of the negativity, and start finding solutions.

Life isn’t fair where everything is just ready to go, happy and dandy all the time.

Getting there requires some work. What if your input and assistance are needed to better a place?

Every single place had some strong, influential people that worked to make it a better workplace.

You could be one of those people! Think about it.

Be a positive role model

Prioritize doing the right thing and your positive work ethic will fuel you.

It all starts from inside, as cliche as this sounds. You know when they say “look good, feel good”? Well…act positive and you’ll feel positive.

This is why I said it all starts with your mindset. Your brain is extremely powerful, so use its power to your advantage.

What if it’s the job itself?

I knew you would ask this question. I mean, of course, you can’t “mindset” your way through a really terrible, toxic work environment. And you shouldn’t have to.

If you feel this way, it’s time to find something better.

Sometimes, a place just isn’t for you, no matter what you do.

It’s all a part of the journey of finding the right work environment for you, so don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

I shared a bunch of non-bedside nursing jobs in my post about what nurses can do for better work-life balance so don’t forget to check that out.

In summary…

I want to share that this advice comes from real-life experiences. I’ve seen night and day differences when I prioritized and worked towards a positive mindset while in a negative environment.

I’ve also used all of these ways to stay positive so I know that they work.

If I can do it, you definitely can.

I always want to remind you that I’m just like you, and being a nurse can be such a joyous, happy career if you take this advice.

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