Nursing Uncharted Ep. 103 - Manifesting Your Best Year and Putting in the Work

Welcome back to another season of Nursing Uncharted! We are kicking off 2026 with high energy and reflection. In this season premiere, our host takes a moment to look back on the lessons learned in 2025 and sets a powerful new intention for the year ahead. This episode moves beyond the typical, fleeting New Year's resolutions like dieting or hitting the gym. Instead, we explore a deeper theme for 2026: Manifestation, paired specifically with the commitment to put in the work. We'd love to hear from you to make this podcast as helpful as possible. Follow us on social media: @AMNnurse Share your thoughts: Add a comment and share your "word of the year" or how you are putting in the work this 2026. Be a guest: If you have a story to tell, reach out. We want to hear from you. Happy New Year and Happy New Season of Nursing Uncharted!

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About the Host:

Ann is a NICU travel nurse and the voice behind Nursing Uncharted. With more than six years on the road, she brings real stories and straight talk to nurses everywhere. Ann loves connecting with the nursing community and sharing both the highs and the challenges of the job. 

Transcript:

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:10:06
Unknown
Hey, guys. Welcome back to another season of nursing uncharted. It is 2026, y'all. And I am so excited for this new year.

00:00:10:06 - 00:00:22:18
Unknown
I have embraced everything from last year and we are going into 2026 with a positive attitude. So welcome everyone. I hope everyone got through the holidays. I hope it was fabulous for everybody

00:00:22:18 - 00:00:47:10
Unknown
So I want to start this off with what I have really grown to love. From last year. And that is the word or the intention doesn't have to be one word I've come to realize. But setting the intention of what we want for ourselves for 2026 last year, as you know, because I've mentioned it so much, and if you tuned in to our last episode that that word was embrace.

00:00:47:12 - 00:01:10:05
Unknown
So I, you know, I embrace everything that came my way the good, the bad, the ugly. And there was a little bit of it every step of the way through 2025. I want to start off before I tell you, my word is that I cannot believe because this just popped into my head, but I cannot believe this is my third season when nursing uncharted.

00:01:10:05 - 00:01:42:00
Unknown
I cannot believe it. I cannot believe how fast time goes. And this is why we have to embrace those moments. Because time slips away. The older we get, the quicker time goes by and we don't want to miss out on some amazing opportunities. So this year, I want to reflect on everything from last year and I have I set you, we set goals, and I know the whole reason I got into the conversation with my producer last year was this New Year's resolution.

00:01:42:00 - 00:02:04:03
Unknown
I think it came up in an episode that we recorded, or we were just having a little chit chat prior to recording, and we both said how we don't like the New Year's resolution, because a lot of times it's, I'm going to go to the gym or I'm going to make all this money, you know, but there's no true like intention behind it or there's no true plan of how to get there.

00:02:04:03 - 00:02:20:22
Unknown
Right? We just we're like, oh, I want to get skinny or oh, I want to, I want to be more buff. I want to do whatever a lot of like diet, exercise, all of that stuff because we've just purged and been not purged. We binged the opposite of purge. We've binge through the holidays and everyone's like, here comes a new year.

00:02:20:22 - 00:02:44:09
Unknown
And I'm, you know, I fluffed up during the winter season, so let's go on a diet. And that just doesn't last. Right. And why do we want to set the year off was failing I hate that word. But failing at the one intention we set for the year. So no more, no more New Year's resolutions and something that kept replaying in my head when I was thinking, what's my word going to be?

00:02:44:11 - 00:02:49:01
Unknown
And the day that I really was thinking about it, you know,

00:02:49:01 - 00:03:01:23
Unknown
I really was trying to think what, what word and not just for, for this podcast, not for this episode, but like, really for myself, because the word last year was like 100% for myself,

00:03:01:23 - 00:03:11:23
Unknown
So, you know, it means something to me. And as I'm thinking about this, I keep hearing this one thing over and over and over again and

00:03:11:23 - 00:03:20:08
Unknown
basically it's a manifest. So the word is manifest, but a little bit deeper is manifest, but put in the work

00:03:20:08 - 00:03:25:07
Unknown
It hits, it hit me, it may not hit you and that's fine. It's not your word, it's mine.

00:03:25:07 - 00:03:43:13
Unknown
I know what I want for myself. And it's not it's not like, oh, I want to be rich or oh, I want to, you know, be in a relationship. It's not something like that. It's just a state of where I want my life to be and a state of emotion and a state of just being.

00:03:43:13 - 00:03:57:09
Unknown
I'm not the type of person to say, okay, I want this. And then I'm just going to sit around and wait for it to come my way, or for someone to help me, or for someone to just do it for me.

00:03:57:10 - 00:04:21:08
Unknown
The work is what makes this successful, and this really ties into nursing. This really ties into basically any career that you choose for yourself. But I think there's a special component of that that matches with with nursing. You know, we have to put in the work. We can't just show up, you know, be on school. Let's not even go into the school aspect of things.

00:04:21:13 - 00:05:01:15
Unknown
Let's say we already have our job. We can't show up to our job and just exist. We have to put in the work. Our patients depend on it and 99.9% of nurses are in this to help other people. And you can't do that by just checking off your tasks on your report sheet. That's not who we are. We use our brains, we use our heart, we use our intuition, and we put in the work to make sure that patient gets better, or to make sure the doctors aware of any change that happens in a patient's status that's on us, you know, and especially in the line of work that I'm in or in really any

00:05:01:15 - 00:05:14:00
Unknown
ICU or you have a patient who is unable to communicate for themselves. We have to be the voice for the patients that need us, and that's putting in the work. So,

00:05:14:00 - 00:05:21:05
Unknown
in the last episode, I talked about these new friends that have come into my life or even friends that I knew.

00:05:21:05 - 00:05:48:15
Unknown
But really, I've put the put the work into cultivating, not to be a more meaningful relationship. You know, again, you're putting in the work to make it successful. And that's that's something that I think I've done subconsciously, but I've never verbalized that or really looked at it as deeply as how I'm looking at things now. You know, I, I'm not a 20 year old anymore.

00:05:48:16 - 00:06:06:10
Unknown
You know, I can't just say, okay. I'm just going to be I have the rest of my life, you know, I'm not in a place that I ever thought I would be. I thought I'd be married with kids at 25 years old. I'm 38 and it's a complete opposite. So I'm still figuring out, like, what I want to do when I grow up.

00:06:06:15 - 00:06:30:18
Unknown
But I'm grown up, so I have to figure out, okay, and where is my life headed? Where do I want it to go? And now it's time to pull myself up by my bootstraps and put in the work to get there. And that's that's really what I'm going to do this year. I'm going to promise myself that I'm going to put in the work to make my life what I want it to be, and I think I'm excited.

00:06:30:23 - 00:06:55:08
Unknown
I'm not. That doesn't even, like, make me stressed. It actually gives me the power that I sometimes feel like I've lost in living the day to day life. You know, I, I lived, I embrace, I did all those things. But now, through embracing everything that I did, I learned a lot. I learned a lot from the good. I learned more from the bad.

00:06:55:09 - 00:07:18:17
Unknown
And I now know the do's and don'ts of my own life and what I want in my life. And I'm excited for that. This is beyond nursing, obviously, but, you know, I think it's I think it's refreshing to listen to a podcast about nursing and talk about life because we got to be happy in our life. And, you know, I spend a lot of time on mental health.

00:07:18:17 - 00:07:39:00
Unknown
I don't think I'm ever going to get off that topic because it's something that as nurses, we continue to struggle with. I think we're bringing a lot of awareness back to it, but we still have a ways to go. And just because last year that was my my passion, I still am passionate about it and we're still going to talk about it.

00:07:39:02 - 00:07:49:19
Unknown
And something that I thought about actually last night, before before recording this today. You know, I want a good work life balance

00:07:49:19 - 00:07:50:18
Unknown
It's not that easy.

00:07:50:23 - 00:08:14:22
Unknown
You have to you have to figure that out on your own. But it is something that we lose sight of, especially as nurses. And we need we need to change that. We need to be able to have a life beyond what we do at the bedside. Being at the bedside drains us, and I can speak for myself, and I can speak for the guests that I have on here that have said the same thing.

00:08:15:00 - 00:08:34:15
Unknown
You as a nurse may not feel that way, and that's that's amazing. But I do, and I know there are people out there that feel that too. So I want to talk about that. You know, we we give and give and give and give every time we could be going through one of the worst things that we had to go through in our life.

00:08:34:17 - 00:08:54:10
Unknown
But we still have to show up to work and we have to take care of those patients that need us. And it's a huge pressure. It's a burden. We obviously all deserve mental health days, and if you are not capable of putting your own emotions aside to provide the excellent care that every patient deserves, then you should not be at work.

00:08:54:10 - 00:09:12:10
Unknown
And not. I acknowledge that and I respect it and I am grateful that hospitals are realizing that administration is realizing that. And they're giving us those days, you know, you used to just have to call in sick. But now I'm seeing this trend in the hospitals that I'm going to that talk about, you know, your mental health days.

00:09:12:10 - 00:09:46:11
Unknown
I don't call them mental health days. They call it other things sometimes. But it's we're we're noticing it more and more. We're acknowledging it. And I'm grateful for that. That is a change in the ever changing health care system that I am grateful to see. There's still work, obviously, that needs to be done. But, you know, I think that continuing to bring awareness for it is important to make sure that we are the best version of ourselves so we can take care of patients, because if we're off and we miss something in the vulnerable patient populations, that can be a matter of life and death.

00:09:46:11 - 00:09:54:00
Unknown
And it's as serious as that. So that's why this is so important for us to take care of ourselves and put in the work for ourselves.

00:09:54:00 - 00:10:09:02
Unknown
I say we need to like, fill, fill our, our cup back up. And I've always felt that I was good at that. But this past year, 2025, I don't know if I shared this story, but I feel like this is a good time because I think it

00:10:09:02 - 00:10:18:20
Unknown
I think all of us have maybe been there, but this was the first time that I was unable to just brush it off and get through.

00:10:18:22 - 00:10:50:08
Unknown
I actually had to go ask for help because I couldn't. I couldn't do it. I and I verbalized and I couldn't believe it because I'm like stretched to my limit and I literally verbalize. I have nothing more to give. I cannot I cannot give to what this family member needs. I can't, and I and I'm glad. I'm glad I recognize that because on the other side of that, we lose our temper, we lose our cool, and we maybe say things, something we may regret.

00:10:50:12 - 00:10:58:04
Unknown
So I'm grateful that that did not happen, but I've never gotten to the point that I'm like, I can't go back in that room because I, I can't

00:10:58:04 - 00:11:06:15
Unknown
I couldn't do it because I had a patient down the hall that was so sick that I needed to tend to, and I even communicated that.

00:11:06:17 - 00:11:22:16
Unknown
I said, are you good in here? I'm going to be gone for a little while. I have a patient down the hall that, like, needs my attention. Obviously, if there's an emergency, please call for me. But I may be tied up for like even an hour. So, you know, just is there anything I can do for you before you go?

00:11:22:18 - 00:11:39:13
Unknown
And, you know, he understood. He's like, no, no, no, I totally understand. It's fine. I go down and like, I'm telling you this, like, this baby I was taking care of was sick and like, needed, needed it. And we were very busy. So there wasn't the extra hands obviously to like, help as much as there could be when, when you're not as busy.

00:11:39:14 - 00:11:47:05
Unknown
So I'm in the room and that I the call it goes off and I'm like, what? Like I just left and I go back and

00:11:47:05 - 00:11:59:23
Unknown
but the the dad just literally said, I don't I don't like that we're in here. I don't like this thing on her face. The baby was on high flow and I'm like, okay.

00:12:00:01 - 00:12:15:18
Unknown
And yeah, I just don't like it. And I was like, okay. Like, did something happen? Like, like, where are we at? What's going on? I'm trying to, like, understand where the brain of the brain is. Right. So there was nothing. It was just that he wanted to use the call light to tell me the. He didn't like that this.

00:12:15:20 - 00:12:34:14
Unknown
His baby had to have oxygen on her face. I get it, I totally get it. I don't want your baby to be in the night either. As awful like. But there's nothing I can do about it. Like, your. Your baby's sick in this moment. Like you know, I can, I, I can't do anything. I can't fix that as a nurse, I can't, I can't fix it.

00:12:34:14 - 00:12:56:19
Unknown
You don't like something. And I that was a moment where I was just like. I couldn't believe that I communicated that I would be tied up because another patient needed me. And he called me to tell me he didn't like something. And in my brain in that moment, I was like, I'm going to lose it. So I had I was like, just excuse me.

00:12:57:01 - 00:13:14:05
Unknown
I went and got my charge nurse. And I literally said to her, I have nothing in my I'm, I'm literally empty. My cup is empty and I have nothing to give right now. Can you please go handle this for me? And and like the Chargers knew me and she knew that that was not the norm because I can schmooze anything.

00:13:14:05 - 00:13:25:22
Unknown
That's I'm notorious for being known to schmooze. And I couldn't schmooze because I knew that another patient needed me and I could not juggle getting called back for that. So

00:13:25:22 - 00:13:32:19
Unknown
I was depleted emotionally. I was probably depleted nutritionally at that point, probably needed hydration as well.

00:13:32:21 - 00:13:45:18
Unknown
But being able to recognize that what I was going to say or do was not in the best interest of that father, or that patient. So I found help to help me.

00:13:45:18 - 00:13:50:18
Unknown
So being able to do that is a is a huge strength,

00:13:50:18 - 00:13:55:06
Unknown
you have to know when you need to step away from a situation.

00:13:55:06 - 00:13:56:12
Unknown
But this is about,

00:13:56:12 - 00:14:05:06
Unknown
filling yourself back up so you can give what is deserved. To give as as a nurse. And our jobs are different than any other job.

00:14:05:12 - 00:14:29:14
Unknown
You know, if we I think about I'm watching a show right now about lawyers, you know, and I'm like, well, what happens if like they get like some they're like, kid gets sick at school, they can just go, right? Like, I mean, unless you're in the courtroom and it's a case, you know, there are obviously exceptions to everything, but those are moments in a career where the moments in our career we are expected to be

00:14:29:14 - 00:14:57:15
Unknown
at a patient's bedside. And when you get those phone calls because it will happen, you know, your kid's sick, your family members sick. You have to. I mean, I shared this, my brother had a heart attack while I was at work and I was in I was in Pennsylvania. He was in Texas, and I thankfully had enough support on a travel job that they allowed me to drop everything and leave, but I had to still give report.

00:14:57:21 - 00:15:17:18
Unknown
I had to sign out. I had to like, keep my composure because I was at work dealing with patients. And I think that people forget that sometimes, and why it's important to recharge and fill your cup and be a little selfish because we need to, we need to on our on our downtime.

00:15:17:18 - 00:15:30:18
Unknown
We need to be selfish to ourselves, and we need to put the love back in, back into ourselves that we are. So we're able to be the best version of ourself. And that's putting in work.

00:15:30:18 - 00:15:52:14
Unknown
know, it's something that I just have such a strong passion for that I want to continue and it goes with that work life balance. So for me, I'm starting off this new year. My friend came to visit me up on this assignment. I'm still on this assignment. I'm finishing out at the end of the month. And you know, I'm starting a new adventure, which I will keep you posted on that as well.

00:15:52:14 - 00:16:10:04
Unknown
But you know, there are big changes coming for me in this in the next month and month or two. And my friend came to visit me, and we're just sitting in a hotel because we decided to get a hotel, love a hotel, and we booked a trip like a five day trip to Mexico. And I'm like, you know what?

00:16:10:06 - 00:16:34:01
Unknown
Should I financially be doing this right now? No, but she's she's able to take care of part of it. I'm able to take care of part of it. And we made it work. And I'm like, you know what? I'm not going to feel guilty about this because I deserve this. I need this to reset me and to remind me that I work really, really hard to not not do these things.

00:16:34:03 - 00:17:01:08
Unknown
And that. And that's something that's self-love and that's something that we all need. And our work is our passion. My work is my passion. I sacrifice myself for my job a lot, and I'm working a lot right now because financially, I made some decisions that I decided. I mentioned this, I moved into a bigger place. I sold my car to make make it happen because I wanted to live in this place that I found.

00:17:01:10 - 00:17:21:12
Unknown
And I'm I'm realizing that budgeting is important. So I've been working my butt off to get myself into a place where I don't have to work to live. And that's unfortunately where a lot of us are. The world is expensive right now, and I want a better work life balance. I want to find a fit. I want to, man.

00:17:21:15 - 00:17:27:09
Unknown
I'm manifesting that for myself. I'm not wanting to. I am, and I'm going to put in the work to get there.

00:17:27:09 - 00:17:56:15
Unknown
I think it's important for me, especially being able to be on on this. You know, outlet on this platform for you to listen to me because I'm not the only person. And I think there's some realness seeing that I'm just an I'm just a normal person. Yes, I do this podcast, I work, I go home, I cook myself dinner, and I go to bed like I the I am as normal as they come and I, I'm struggling and I don't want to struggle anymore.

00:17:56:18 - 00:18:11:16
Unknown
So I want to put in the work to not have to do this. So I'm going to Mexico with my friend for five days, you know, and that's going to that's going to reset me. And I know it will because I'm already excited about it. So I know it's going to be fun, I know it's going to be worth it.

00:18:11:18 - 00:18:32:04
Unknown
And yeah, and I just think that it's it's important for everyone to treat yourself. It may not be a trip to Mexico. Great. But like treat yourself. Go buy that lipstick that you've been eyeing up. Go, go get your hair done. Go put some tinsel in your hair. You know, go do something that just makes you happy. It can be expensive.

00:18:32:04 - 00:18:53:22
Unknown
It can be free. It can. You know it can. There's so many, so many things on that, you know, on that scheme that it doesn't have to cost a lot of money to fill your cup back up. And that's basically what I just, I want for all of us. I want I want us to still do what we do, love what we do, not get burnt out and take care of ourselves.

00:18:53:22 - 00:18:55:05
Unknown
At the end of the day,

00:18:55:05 - 00:19:09:01
Unknown
But I think this is a good episode to start the year out with. It's throw like it's throwing that stuff behind us that has stressed us out. Setting a tone, picking, picking a path for yourself, putting in the work and making it happen.

00:19:09:03 - 00:19:34:17
Unknown
And you know, there's a lot of changes that continue to happen in health care. And that can be really frustrating, really taxing, really tiring. But those changes are something that we need to embrace that, you know, we need to figure out, I'm I'm actually personally, I'm excited because I feel like last year was a bit of a transition between recovery from Covid and going a different route.

00:19:34:17 - 00:19:41:02
Unknown
I has been a huge thing that people are afraid of. But 2025, it exploded.

00:19:41:02 - 00:19:41:23
Unknown
But it's exciting.

00:19:41:23 - 00:20:03:03
Unknown
So the changes in healthcare, I'm sure are going to continue to happen. I feel like a lot will come. I think travel nursing is changing, and I'm actually really excited to see what that's going to going to look like. I'm excited for, you know, just what travel con will be. I don't know why. That's always something that's like on the tip of my tip of my head kind of thing, because I had so much fun.

00:20:03:05 - 00:20:23:16
Unknown
But like, you know, that it was a for people had been there before. It was different than other years. So like, what are we going to learn from that? What are we going to change and have have in 2026? You know, there's there's all these unknowns. But I just have this like gut feeling that there's going to be some big changes all around, especially in travel nursing and especially in health care.

00:20:23:18 - 00:20:38:13
Unknown
And I'm excited. I'm excited to see where this season of nursing uncharted is going to go. And you know, I talk about this sometimes. It's always a plug at the end of an episode. But I want to hear from you. If you're listening to this, please tell me.

00:20:38:13 - 00:20:54:12
Unknown
I love the people that send a message that are like, oh, you know, my my son listens to this. He's in nursing school. Like, thanks for the advice on XYZ episode. You know, that's that fills my cup. So let me know if you're listening. Come be a guest. Let's have a conversation.

00:20:54:12 - 00:21:08:14
Unknown
Let me hear from you. Let's make this is real and raw as possible. And that's what the foundation of this podcast is, is to deep dive into the real and raw aspects of nursing. Let's do it. And I can't do that unless I hear from you.

00:21:08:14 - 00:21:30:19
Unknown
So comment on social media at Am nurse. I'm on there a lot. Come on in. Any one of those little clips from any of the podcast episodes, shoot us a DM and just reach out because I'd love to hear from you. I'm excited again. It's an even year, so it's going to be great because I said it's going to be great, so let's manifest it.

00:21:30:19 - 00:21:43:05
Unknown
Let's put in the work and let's make it be real. So happy new year everybody. Happy new season of nursing uncharted and I cannot wait for what's to come.

00:21:43:05 - 00:22:23:04
Unknown
Thank you for tuning in to Nursing Uncharted. You can learn more about this episode and our show on our website at AMN. Health care.com. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend and subscribe to our show on your favorite podcast platform. You can also find show updates and nursing opportunities on our Instagram at AMN nurse. Special thanks to Aman Healthcare for making this show possible.