Hi y’all,

I know I promised to make a blog post including my workout calendar. But I am going to postpone it just a bit since most gyms are closed anyway, it may not be the most helpful time to share it. I know I’m not going to be following my scheduled programming for a while, unfortunately (it does make me think that I want to build a home gym in the future though).

Since my last blog post, things have taken an unfamiliar turn and at times it almost seems like the world is on fire. With the spread of COVID-19 into all fifty of the United States, restaurants, gyms, bars, clubs, and many workplaces have been shut down and the virus has hijacked an incredible amount of media attention as well as my news feed.

RN life goes on…

Obviously in my vocation, work is not going to be shutting down anytime soon. Nurses are expected to work longer hours during things like hurricanes, tornados, and other natural disasters. A viral pandemic? That falls right in our toolkit and under the classification of scenarios where a greater-than-average effort will be required of medical professionals in various roles across an organization.

There are pros and cons to being in the medical profession during events like this. One pro is that most of us aren’t losing sleep over job security. Seriously, I feel for those people who are in industries that are getting hammered by the economic impact of a situation like this. Many people will undoubtably lose their jobs to no fault of their own. Companies of all sizes will struggle to get back on their feet after suffering an unforeseeable loss of revenue for an extended period of time. A lot of organizations will be forced to cut labor or at least downsize, and in many instances, those will be the best-case-scenarios. Hospitals aren’t really in danger of that and most of the medical facilities that I’ve seen are experiencing a higher volume of patients due to the current conditions. 

In contrast, times like this can be stressful to those in the medical community because we don’t really have the ability or the privilege to self-isolate or quarantine ourselves away from the danger. Don’t get me wrong. We are not the only profession that has to go into work during pandemics. However, it doesn’t change the fact that more is expected of us and we have to stay ready all the time.  In addition, for many doctors, nurses, and other medical staff around the country, we will be spending an inordinate amount of time around sick or high-risk people.

I know the average person under the age of 60 is not (and rightfully so) as statistically worried about succumbing to this, but it is of great concern to me, not because I am concerned for my own health, but I am concerned for those in the more susceptible age range who I interact with on a regular basis. Not only do I have a father who travels for work and is exposed to huge populations of people in airports on a regular basis, but I also have a mother who is working as an ICU nurse, despite being in the vulnerable age-range.

A big part of me wishes I could just tell me parents to stay home and wait this thing out, but that is not a possibility right now. All I can do is focus on what I can control, which is to go into work and do my absolute best to serve those in need of my care.

But enough with the doom and gloom, I don’t want anyone to think that I’m complaining or that I’m remotely skeptical that we will move on from this current situation. I am completely optimistic that not only will we recover, but that for many of us, valuable lessons can come from this. One thing a lot of people (myself included) have right now is some extra free time. Like I said, the gym is closed. All the time I spend in between shifts going to the gym, going out to eat, going to stores, etc. is now open, and I am spending a lot more time at home. I’m not really a bar person, but for those that go to bars it’s the same thing. This has led me to thinking about how I am spending my time now, and what I could do differently/learn from the situation that could create a positive long-term impact.

What are we going to do with this free time?

Obviously, we have to stay active. Just because gyms are closed isn’t an excuse to slack off, just like the added stress isn’t an excuse to throw our lifestyle out the window and stray from the path. I know it’s easy to fall into that and I’m not telling you as someone who is above making bad decisions as a consequence of stress. I am simply reminding everyone, as well as myself, that now is not the time to let stress take a foothold and interfere with our long-term goals and what we really want.

I’m looking forward to giving my body a little bit of time off to recover and let my joints and connective tissue get some much-needed rest. Don’t get me wrong, would I rather be lifting tomorrow? Yes, but I also see the positive in some forced time off from the gym. Not only does it give us the opportunity to recover, but it also makes me think outside of the box and forces me to cross-train, as well as learn new thing along the way.

For the present moment, my training goals are to work more extensively on my cardiovascular endurance. In addition, I’m going to be stretching more over the next few weeks and doing calisthenic training to keep the blood flowing through my muscles. These are not things that I work on as much on a regular basis, but I am going to be for as long as it takes for this to go back to normal. Feel free to follow my story as I will be posting home-workouts that I am going to be doing on a regular basis.

I think times like this serve us well in that they give us the opportunity to reflect and reevaluate how our life is going without taking some of the big things for granted. Health/fitness isn’t everything, but it is a huge thing. You can be the smartest or the richest person in the world, or you may have your dream life in every other facet, but at the end of the day… we only have the one body we are going to live in. Nothing else is going to change that. In addition, I’m a firm believer that the physical drives the mental, and the mental pushes the physical. What is stopping you from improving in both? I know my mind works much better after training and I feel much happier and focused if I know I’m on the right path.

In addition to staying active, I am going to make a point to read more and learn a few new things that I look forward to sharing with everyone. I really want to connect with other people who have similar values and life goals in order that we can use this time to help one-another.

Especially in the medical community, we as nurses have the ability to unite under one umbrella and keep each other accountable in order that we keep learning, keep growing, and we stay on top of our game. It’s easy to work so much that we get de-sensitized to things, but we have an amazing opportunity to connect with patients and influence their life for the better, not only by providing the best care possible, but also in leading by example. This opportunity is presented to us every time we step into work. I know that many times, I read stories of nurse-patient interactions and they serve as fuel to me to do my best. You don’t have to be working in the medical community to experience the same thing.

Let’s keep each other accountable in doing our best and feel free at any time to DM me on Instagram and share a story of a positive outcome you’ve experienced during this time.

In the meantime, stay safe everyone and never forget that we are all in this together. : )  

Lexi Pernsteiner, RN-MSN.

Instagram: Lexicristabelle