In healthcare, the struggle is real. You feel pulled in every direction—your job, your family, your advocacy efforts, and your own sanity. The question often becomes: Do I focus on taking care of myself, or do I prioritize making systems change? But what if this isn’t the choice you think it is? What if self-care is systems change?
This is a cornerstone of the Nursing the System approach: recognizing that the work you do on yourself directly fuels the change you want to see in healthcare systems. Let’s explore why this matters and how you can integrate self-work into your systems-thinking journey.
The False Choice: Self-Care vs. Systems Change
Three years ago, a nurse reached out to me with a question that so many healthcare professionals wrestle with: How do I balance caring for myself with caring for the system?
Her message was heartfelt: she wanted to help fix the broken healthcare system. She understood the urgency of stepping up, protesting, volunteering, and advocating. But she was tired, overwhelmed, and frustrated. How could she contribute meaningfully to change when she could barely make it through her shift?
The answer? Stop treating self-care and systems change as separate. Self-care is systems care. Here’s why:
Burnout doesn’t lead to better advocacy. You can’t fight for change effectively when you’re emotionally and mentally drained.
Resilience is foundational. A resilient healthcare professional is a better communicator, leader, and change-maker.
Systems are interconnected. Your personal well-being directly impacts your ability to lead change within larger systems.
Seeing Life as a System
One of the most harmful myths in healthcare culture is that you can compartmentalize your work life and personal life. Advice like, “Clock out and stop thinking about nursing” might sound helpful, but let’s be honest: trauma, stress, and burnout don’t just disappear when you leave the hospital.
Your life is a system—an interconnected web of work, family, community, and personal development. When one part of the system is struggling, the entire system feels the strain. Systems thinking helps you see this big picture and identify opportunities to create alignment and reduce friction.
For example:
Recognizing that your exhaustion at work isn’t just about staffing levels but also about how you’re managing your own boundaries and capacity.
Understanding that personal development—like learning resilience strategies or systems thinking—isn’t a “selfish” act but a way to enhance your impact on others.
Self-Work is Systems Work
Here’s the truth: you can’t make lasting change in healthcare without working on yourself. Self-work builds the skills, resilience, and clarity you need to take on the complexity of systems change. This doesn’t mean self-care has to look like bubble baths or yoga classes (though it can if that’s your thing). It’s about intentional personal development.
Start With Systems Thinking
Becoming a systems thinker is one of the most impactful steps you can take toward both self-care and systems change. Why? Because systems thinking:
Helps you see the patterns in your life and work that need to change.
Gives you tools to challenge unhelpful hierarchies and assumptions.
Reveals opportunities for creative solutions that benefit both individuals and organizations.
Improves communication and collaboration by helping you understand others’ perspectives.
When you approach both your personal life and your professional role with a systems-thinking mindset, you’ll find it easier to identify where small, strategic changes can have a big impact.
Reflective Prompts for Change-Makers
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by where to start, take a moment to reflect:
How are you sidelining your needs in service of others or the system?
How are you delaying systems change because you think you need to heal yourself first?
Where do you see the connections between your self-work and your systems work?
These questions aren’t about creating guilt—they’re about creating clarity. By understanding how self-care and systems care are linked, you can make intentional choices that serve both.
Why Systems Thinkers Make Better Changemakers
Let’s not sugarcoat it: healthcare is full of challenges. But systems thinkers don’t just see obstacles; they see opportunities. By becoming a systems thinker, you can:
Spot unhelpful patterns in your workplace and life that need to be broken.
Create sustainable, people-centered solutions that go beyond quick fixes.
Build resilience and clarity in your own life, making it easier to lead change at work.
Most importantly, systems thinkers understand that self-care and systems care aren’t in opposition. They’re deeply interconnected.
Take the Next Step
If this blog resonated with you, I encourage you to listen to the full story on the Nursing the System Podcast. There, I dive deeper into how self-care fuels systems change and how you can integrate this mindset into your life and work.
For weekly insights and actionable strategies, subscribe to the Systems Sunday Email List newsletter. Your self-work isn’t just about you—it’s about creating a better future for everyone.
Let’s stop treating self-care and systems change as a binary. It’s time to embrace the power of both—because when you take care of yourself, you’re taking care of the system.
Opmerkingen