What came first: the chicken or the egg? A question that baffles me every time. Well, I have another one for you… what impacts what? Work or Non-Work?

What do I mean by this?

Well, I’ve shared with you several times my ‘story’… the story that has led me to where I am presently am today. But what I am unsure of is was I really, really clear on what happened first? Have I told you what I think impacts what? Am I right about my assumptions? Let’s read on and see…

From 2005 to 2010 I was an inpatient psych nurse. As you may or may not know I worked on one of the busiest and most acute inpatient units in the state of Maryland. It was challenging, but the work was fast-paced and always exciting. I was young, fresh out of school, and have always exhibited a strong work ethic.

So I did very well.

I excelled up the clinical ladder to the highest rank of staff nurse in less than four years. I travelled nationally and internationally giving presentations on posters and papers. I facilitated unit based committees, sat on departmental groups, and was a leader on my unit.

All and all, from the outside, it appeared fine and dandy.

But this was not the case. I was miserable, exhausted, fed up and angry. I didn’t enjoy work; in fact towards the end I started to resent everything, including the patients.

And I did what many of us nurses do- I blamed work. It was my managers fault. It was the lazy co-workers. It was the system of psychiatry and the way we just gave medications that had me hating work. It was all of these external factors- everything about my job- that was making me unhappy. Right?

Wrong!

I believe that work was NOT the issue at all. In fact, I have come to disbelieve there is such a thing as burnout from the career. I’m sure many people will not believe with this statement, but let me explain as to why I take this stand.

What comes first? Work satisfaction or life satisfaction? Is work impacting how we feel in our every day (non-work) lives? Or is our non-work time- and what we do/do not do with it- impacting how we feel about and function at work?

In my experience it was how I was living my life OUTSIDE of work that totally made me experience a ‘burn out’ at work.

I was drinking heavily. I slept poorly. We ate fast food, drank sodas at every meal, and rarely had a fruit or a vegetable in the house. I never exercised. I coped very poorly with stress. I fought, cried, and acted irrationally. I did nothing in terms of a social life, hobbies, or extracurricular activity (unless it was happy hour or a weekend binge).

The way I was living my life was the cause of my crash and burn.

It was not work. It was not the staff. It was not the patients. It was not anything- the unit, hospital, or system. It wasn’t anything else outside of me. It was me.

My home life (or lack thereof) was impacting how I felt about and functioned at work.

So I encourage you to ask yourself: what influences what? Are you unhappy at or fed up with work because of what you do (do not do) outside of work? Is your home life impacting your functionability at work? Is your stress level and non-support system outside of work causing you to hate your job?

Take a good look at your own experiences and note which impacts what. What comes first: work or non-work life? Is the health, stress, or lack of either impacting how you experience your career? Or do you totally disagree and believe that work impacts home life? I’d love to hear the reactions and experiences. Go ahead and leave a comment below.