This was originally published in the July/August 2023 issue of Med-Surg Nurse Life Magazine.

This issue of Med-Surg Nurse Life Magazine provides tips to improve your mood, manage your personal finances, and fix a bad day. These articles provide you with tangible activities you can complete to achieve your financial goals and turn that frown upside down (my apologies for being corny!) while creating new habits or making small changes that can have a big impact.

We often say it’s the small things that provide the most value in life. When you stop and think about an experience you have had, whether it was taking care of a patient, a recent shift at work, or going on that vacation you spent months planning, what do you remember? You probably remember the moment you made a patient smile, that inside joke you shared with your favorite co-worker, or the sunset you viewed from the scenic overlook on vacation. We may spend months planning the perfect vacation or weeks anticipating a concert, but it is the accumulation of unique moments that happen during those events that provide you with lasting memories and remind you of the emotions, smells, tastes, and sights you experienced.

It is important for us to take time to reflect on the small things that contribute to our connections with others and help us find respite so we can continue to give the great patient care we provide, reduce our caregiver burden, and find ways to continue to learn and grow. We didn’t learn how to be a nurse in one day in nursing school; it was the accumulation of small moments—going to class, clinicals, and practicums; as well as writing papers, taking tests, and creating those care plans that helped us graduate and pass the NCLEX. Just like nursing school was a series of smaller experiences, so is getting our first job, taking care of our first patient assignment, and choosing our future career paths. We should not take our small moments for granted but use them to remember how far we have come, and how we have impacted those around us.

Think about your small moments. I bet that memory of when you made the patient smile is one that the patient also carries with them, and they think about how you made their day just a little bit better. The co-worker you shared the inside joke with probably felt joy much like you did as you laughed together. I hope when you look back through your photos at the picture you took of the sunset on vacation, you remember how you felt at that moment. We get busy and distracted with priorities and deadlines, and we forget to take time to savor the little things that not only give us happiness and peace but also provide us with perspective regarding what we have accomplished and how far we have come. I encourage you to keep finding the fun and joy in the small things and the small moments and know that you make a difference every day.