What the New Year Means for Nurses

New Year’s Eve marks the last day of the year in the Gregorian calendar before the New Year. It may just be another working day for nurses, but it is still one of the most universally celebrated holidays to this day…but why?

Bye-bye 2019!

Some people may find this to be a confusing time with mixed feelings. The end of the year may bring back nostalgia for some. It can be a time to reflect on everything that happened the past twelve months, to look back and remember past successes and even failures. When it comes to our failures, this is the time to remember and leave any mistakes in 2019, and to change so we don’t make the same ones in 2020.

Hello 2020!

The New Year signifies a time for hope, change and betterment. New Year’s Resolutions are set with high hopes of ending the upcoming year better than the last. For some nurse, resolutions may consist of being healthier by bringing healthier meals to work, some may be geared towards becoming more successful by earning your BSN or MSN to advance your nursing career. In order to make 2020 a truly better New Year, resolutions should be feasible.

Set Realistic Goals

In the past, you may have set countless resolutions that you ended up not keeping because they were just not realistic. For example, using an absolute like “I will never make a charting error” or I will always bring a healthy meal to work” is just setting up an unrealistic goal that is bound to fail. Instead, try setting goals without using absolutes like “I will make fewer charting errors” and “I will bring more healthy meals to work when possible”. The steps to keeping your New Year’s resolutions are to set realistic resolutions, outline a plan to keeping them, track your progress, and stick to it (even if you fail).

Stick to those resolutions and have a Happy New Year!