Saying YES to YOU with Jenn Johnson

Welcome to the Real Life Momz podcast. It is time to take a break from all our to-dos and carve out this time to focus on ourselves. I'm Lisa Foster, your host, and today I'm here with Jenn Johnson, fellow mom, er nurse, author, and wellness advocate, and she is here to guide us through trusting our gut.

And saying yes to ourselves. So, hi Jen. Welcome to the show. Oh my God, Lisa, thank you so much for having me and especially like being so welcoming and just, it's appreciated. Oh,. I love our mom talks. I love what you have to offer us today, because listen, let's just get into it, right, because saying yes to ourself is so hard.

And I feel like it always comes from me at least, and I think a lot of us with a side of guilt. So why is it so hard to say yes to yourself? I mean, we could go down a whole rabbit [00:01:00] hole about how we're supposed to be. We've been very much conditioned from a very young age by all sorts of different people and sources and influences about just like, oh, you're a good mom, but only if you give everything to everybody else.

So, I once had the conversation with my husband. I said, you know what, I'm, I had reached a point where I had hit rock bottom. I burnt out completely with COVID. I, uh, work in the er, you know, during all that was.

Let's never even talk about it ever again. And it was just, it had gone to a point where I'm like, okay, I'm finally gonna go on antidepressants. I'd never been on antidepressants before, so let's go down that road. I'm, I'm getting therapy. And I kind of said to him, I said, you know what? I'm just gonna put myself first for a minute or maybe forever, I don't know.

And he goes, oh, that's so selfish. I'm like. Huh? Pardon me? Like, I just, I'm like, okay, uh, I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that. And I am, I'm gonna pretend that I [00:02:00] did marry you, um, of my own volition, and that was my choice and all these things, but in this minute, I'm gonna need you to just close your mouth and, and walk away from me slowly, because you're, that's, that's, no, absolutely not.

And that comment was just like this wave of something and it hit me and I'm going oh, I'm so selfish. I'm like, well, you want me to be the villain? Let me be the villain.

I'm gonna just, let's lean into that a little bit and , this idea about being villainous by just putting ourselves first and, and caring for ourselves, heaven forbid, became this kind of fun idea that I'm like, oh, well, let's kind of turn the, the script on this a lot. Let's just turn on its head and go, if you want me to play the villain, if I'm the villain, because I wanna care for myself.

Let me be the villain. So it's been, an interesting process of kind of putting myself first and, and seeing where that's gotten me and prioritizing my sleep [00:03:00] and prioritizing, time for myself and, and finding things that make me happy. And guess what? I a, I started a business. I wrote a couple of, well, I've written one book and I'm in the midst of two others.

Uh, I've started up some fun journals and all these other things, and it's led me into this weird pocket of nursing that's like the nursing innovation space. Mm-hmm. And I'm going, well, this is really cool. This is something that I never once thought about. I never thought about being a business owner. I never thought about writing a book and, and all these other things.

So it's like, huh. And, and how am I feeling? I'm feeling really, like, I'm feeling challenged. I'm feeling accepted. I'm, I'm getting to meet new people and you know, now I've extended myself into podcast and talking with lovely people who I would've never had a chance to talk to otherwise. Yeah. And just goof off.

Be me. And so that was 2020, so we're, we're five years in and it's [00:04:00] now kind of become this hilarious thing where it's like, mom's a witch. Mom's a villain. Like, yeah, yeah, I am. And, and fun fact, like. In the nursing sphere. Nurse Blake is a very large figure in, in our nursing sphere.

He's kind of like, , the Laura Cleary of, of nursing where it's like just huge following and I get to teach with him. And one of the classes I get to teach not only just nursing intuition or how to trust your gut, but how to be your villain. How, how to step into this power and, and really harness it for good and, and see what happens.

Because when we start putting a lot, all this effort into us, it's crazy. The, the spaces that I've ended up in and the people that I've talked to and the places that I'm going, all because I said yes to me. Amazing, amazing. First of all, I have to say to your husband, let's, he stole lot. Just quickly, a little something, but like, does he.[00:05:00]

He does actually. Okay. Okay. And, and this is, this is again, just a different parenting style. Okay. Um, where guilt was very heavy handed in his mm-hmm. Growing up and, and that kind of thing where it wasn't in mine. Yeah. Um, and so, you know, he. Expects to run himself into the ground and for us to be thankful that he's running himself into the ground.

Mm-hmm. And I'm going, no, you have to put you first too. Like you have to go find a new hobby and go have, find some guy friends to hang out with and leave the house. Like it's not just work at home like you need, you need more, I need you to need more because I can't handle it all. Yes. And no one is thankful for running anybody into the ground.

No. Like, you know, nobody even notices that. So, yes. Okay. So you said you teach people how to be a villain like so. Yeah. Mm-hmm. How do you overcome this feeling of guilt? Some of us have this, , just sacrificing yourself to the wolves. Yeah. How do we overcome that? What are those steps to [00:06:00] be? I guess a villain.

I don't know if I like the villain name yet. I'm feeling it out. Out. We'll see. We'll see. It's okay. It's a hundred percent something to get into, right? Like it takes, it is a huge mindset shift. But if you've ever watched all of these new Disney movies that they're putting out, like the villain.

The villain story where it's the villain origin story and that's how, here's this person who is a regular person and then they just got pushed to the edge with a bunch of trauma or circumstances or what have you, and then they come in and so you're like, oh, well of course Cruella Deville ended up like that with all this backstory.

And I'm like. Huh, man, do I get her now? Like, whereas growing up as a kid, , you saw that really basic cartoon and you're like, oh my God, the lady how could she possibly, but now you get the backstory. Yeah. 20, 30 years later and you're like, I. Oh yeah, I, I could see how somebody could be pushed to that.

Yes. So knowing that about all of us and knowing what [00:07:00] we deal with on a daily basis, the mother's mental load to, to start it all off, is insane. And then the society expectations, and then your family's expectations, and then you, you add on your own expectations. And truly, sometimes we are our worst enemies because.

, The whole perfection idea, the Instagram perfect photos and the baby announcements and the showers and the gender reveals all of who, which have been getting really outta hand. And Pinterest. Let's thanks Pinterest for all of these. This level of upping one, one another, and it's gotten to the point where.

Well, I understand that none of that is real, but that's a lot of, because of what I do, I, I see everybody at their worst moment, like truly, whether or not they are actually dying or not. Or just think they are. I. That, that is to them their worst moment. And so I get to see this really gritty, [00:08:00] truly authentic version of people at work all day long.

And so that to me, I'm like, okay, well that's real life. This is real life. So I've got this lovely little 12 hours a day of, of reality check versus, scrolling on Instagram and, and. Picking things off of Pinterest and hearing what everybody else is doing and going, that's not real life like I know that real life is hella messy, partly because I am hella messy and that's okay.

Like I, I know my limitations. I know that I am an A closeted A DHD, or Am I detail oriented? No. No. I pick things up and drop things and mess up things and miss, , important dates?

Yeah. I do all of it. And I feel bad for a half a second, and then I go. It's okay because I'm human underscore period. Exclamation mark. We're just people trying [00:09:00] to get from point A to point B, there's just so much going on for us at all angles, at all times that how in the world can any of us do any one of those things perfectly, let alone all of them perfectly? So, coming to the idea that I am a mess. I am part of the Hot Mess Mom Club is the most freeing movement I think I've ever come to terms with because the moms groups, while they can be helpful at times, man.

They can also really help you to push you off the track of, , oh, I'm, my, my kid's not reaching that milestone. Oh my kid's not doing that well in school. Oh, we're having this behavior at home. Oh my gosh, we're late on our vaccines. All these kind of things. It's like, oh man. Like, I'm just trying to get it all together.

Life is messy.

Yeah. So what I'm hearing part of. Owning your own villain is embracing the mess. Yep. [00:10:00] That life is not perfect, right? Mm-hmm. And also not holding on to stuff, right?

Yeah. Like not actually letting, letting that one like side of guilt just be like, okay, oh well, and then give it a minute and, and call it a day. It was interesting because. Before coming on, I was scrolling through Instagram, which I don't find helpful either at all. I don't know why I do it. It's like my reflex that developed in my body.

I know. It's, it's addicting and it's, you get to kind of zone out a little bit because then you can finally let your brain. Have a minute to breathe where you are actually conscious you're not sleeping. Mm-hmm. You're conscious, but you're finally not going off on a tangent about all the different things that you need to do.

Yeah, totally. And it, it can make you feel good.

It's, I, I'd call it fake fun. It's not your real fun. Yeah. But it's fake fun. Yeah. However, I did see this. Sometimes they come up with great stuff and there was this like guy that I love, I don't even know where he's from, but he comes up with these like videos that I [00:11:00] always am like, oh, I love him. And he was just holding a glass of water in a class.

It was like just a eight ounce glass of water full. And he is like, how, how heavy is this? And he is just holding it there. And , people are like eight ounces, 12, you know? And he is like, well, it depends how long I hold it for. 'cause the longer I hold this, then it gets heavier. And that's your emotions if I just let it go.

It's not heavy at all. And I was like, well, that made so much sense, but if I hold onto it, this, my arm starts to hurt. It's like it's too much. So I love like the idea of just letting go of maybe a feeling of like, oh, I should have done this or that, or I'm, oh, feeling bad that I'm putting myself first.

Like, let it go if you let it go in one minute. It's not gonna, not gonna feel so heavy, right? No. And it, it takes practice. Yeah. Like, it's not like you're just gonna all of a sudden turn it all off and you're like, I'm just gonna live in the moment for me. No, it's absolutely not gonna happen that way. And [00:12:00] truly what ends up happening in the long term is you finally take this time for yourself.

You make yourself happy, then guess what? You're not snapping at the kids so much. Because you've got that little bit of resilience, , built up. You are happy, you see your kids see you being happy and doing other things that aren't just being a mom.

And what I'm hearing from you is the guilt.

Yeah. And the feeling that you being happy is taking away from them. Yeah. Which, how ridiculous is that? How ridiculous is that we feel that our time isn't ours, or our happiness isn't ours to have. Like, and anything we spend on us is taking away from the kids. It's. Very funny how we somehow pick that up and, and internalize it and go, oh yeah, no, we're not allowed to do anything.

It's very, it's an odd, it's an odd thing. And have you ever stayed home? 'cause it happens to me. Have you ever just stayed home? 'cause you felt guilty and no one cared, no one even talked to you. It was like the kids were like gone [00:13:00] doing their own thing, like.

No one cared like you could have been there or not. I'm like, why? Why did I do that? Why did I not go, whether it's to a friend or out with, my husband or whatever. I just chose not to do it 'cause I felt guilty and then no one cared. And I was like, okay, no one even cares that I'm home. What is that?

Exactly now you are an ER nurse. You, we are talking about trusting our gut and mm-hmm. I'm assuming that's something you're like a master at, just being in, the trenches really, you're gonna have to do that every day.

Yeah. So maybe just talk about a little bit, first of all, what is, I mean, people throw that around all the time, trust your gut. Like what is that and what's actually really happening there? Yeah. So every woman over the age of 12 knows this feeling already. Mm-hmm. You walk, you're walking down the street.

Get a, you just get a sixth sense that somebody's either behind you or looking at you or following you, and you're just like, your back gets up and you're just like, you know, the hackles on your neck raised and you're like, mm, I don't like this [00:14:00] situation. I'm gonna cross the street, or I'm gonna duck into, uh, this, you know, this coffee shop.

Or I'm just gonna take myself outta the situation. You go to a bar. Some guy, you see some guy from across the room and sure enough, you're like absolutely not a hundred percent creep factor. He hasn't said one word. He's 20 feet away from me. No. Mm-hmm. And we trust that, that feeling innately because it comes back to our safety and we, we do it instinctually 24 7, 365, because we're always on guard.

That's just. The realities of being a woman and so that we trust. But when it comes to trusting our gut with work or, um, decisions for ourselves, we second guess constantly. Yeah. And so, at least in the er. How it kind of manifests is I will see a patient, so I'm usually triaged, so I'm, somebody comes right in and they're talking [00:15:00] to me and I'm getting the story, I'm doing the vitals, and I'm just like, Ugh, I don't like this.

Like, I don't know what part of this scenario I don't like. I don't know if I'm missing a key piece of information. I don't know if they just look sicker than I think they should, but something is off. I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it. But I'm gonna go with it anyways. And so sure enough, you know, you, you take the patient, you bring them in, and um, you get 'em all hooked up and, and kind of get lab work, lab work going and all this other things.

And you go to the doc and you say, Hey, I've got a patient I just brought in. Here's the story. Here are the vitals. You know, the story sounds benign. Um, the vitals are okay. Like they're not crazy outta whack. But there's some, my gut is saying, no, there's something wrong with this. And the good docs. Stop and pull away from their desk and they're like, I will be there in a minute.

And so like the more often than not that it happens, it's just. [00:16:00] A sense that you get that something is wrong. Sometimes it manifests as kind of like a physical sensation, so that heaviness in your gut, tightness in your shoulders, you again, hackles on the back of your neck raising, goosebumps, that kind of thing.

, So that can be like physical sensations that your body is like picking up on something that you are not. Logically, consciously aware of, yet it's already thinking six steps ahead, and it's already processing that information going like, I'm looking at these scenario, this is not good. This is not gonna work out.

Something's gonna happen. And it may not be related to my, my personal physical safety, but it's related to my patient's safety. And what happens is then if my patient's safety is at risk, theoretically I am at risk. Right? Lawsuits, things happening, a patient dying and me carrying that guilt or that story or that patient with me for the rest of my life.

I don't want that. I've already got enough patients that, , [00:17:00] stories that follow me around. I don't need another one. So I'm looking to not have any more patient stories follow me around. So I've learned to kind of lean into that and it, it keeps paying off. And sometimes, yeah, maybe I'm overreacting a little bit, maybe I'm a little extra sensitive.

I haven't gotten enough sleep. I'm, I'm a little off. That's fine. Scientific studies actually say that even me being wrong and getting the doc and, and the doc saying, oh no, there's actually not, the patient's not nearly as sick as you think. They're, that touchpoint by the doctor still improves patient outcomes.

So even though I'm wrong and nothing's being done, nothing's changing, that patient is still having better outcomes because I've advocated for them. It, it's, it's the weird science. I don't know if it's placebo effect or what, but it's, you're still improving. So it's like, okay, so there's, it's a win-win situation no matter what.

Mm-hmm. When I trust my gut, I'm right. We, we improve the patient. When I'm wrong, the pa, the doc comes to see the patient. We're still patient, [00:18:00] still wins. Which, and then I win. Yeah. I've had other people describe it as, people who work in offices or real estate. There's a deal coming through and there's just, you feel like something's off with the deal.

You feel like either there's something wrong with the deal or you feel like there's something wrong with the person you're dealing with. Mm-hmm. And you're like, I don't trust you. I think there's something hinky going on. I don't, I feel like I'm missing something. And again, it's just those senses that you're like, ah, I just don't know.

And I am, I feel like I'm missing something. Other times it's just like questions will pop up into my head, that I won't typically ask at triaged if I'm just going through my daily routine, but all of a sudden I will start asking questions that are way off base, but suddenly give me all the information that I need to know exactly where I'm headed with this patient.

You take talking to a patient who, has got, pancreatic cancer and he's just there for a little bit of pain control and all of a sudden, , I finished the triage and he looks well. It's not [00:19:00] even like he's in a ton amount of pain. It is just a little bit of pain. He's just looking for a little bit of symptom relief.

And I start going off on the tangent of how are you feeling? How are you coping? Have you made any advanced directives yet? How is your wife coping with this? You have young children. He proceeds to tell me she's not accepting. She thinks that we're gonna fight and we're gonna win and, and all this stuff where I've come to terms with it.

, But I can't talk to her about it because if I'm talking about my own death, she gets really defensive. She's not mentally there yet, so it's leaving me an lurch where I wanna start planning things and making sure things are, are teed up. But I can't talk to her about it. And so I said, well, you know, there are death cafes that it's, people who typically work in fields that include a lot of death.

Funeral directors, nurses,, physicians, police, fire, EMS. We all get together and we talk about death very naturally because it is just natural to us. Like it's, it's less taboo the more you deal with it. And so I said, there's death cafes [00:20:00] all around the world. You can go in person, you can go online and you can just.

Sit there and listen, you can participate. You can, somebody will have the answers you need, but here's some information. I have never offered that up in 17 years to anybody else but him. Mm-hmm. Him I offered. And so it's like, okay, so where did those questions come from? Why did I go in that direction?

And it's like, okay, well I'm just trusting that my mind knows what's needed. It's gotten to the point where. It's been so oddly Right. So often that now I just go with it. , And I'm comfortable enough to say, oh, if I'm way off base, that's okay. I'm way off base.

It's no skin off my back. Because the instances when I'm right, very much prove I was in right place, right time, right. Patient. Yeah, and going back to , trusting yourself, trusting your instinct. I don't even think it has to be a wrong or right thing. It's just really, do you know what I'm saying?

It's just like, whatever is coming [00:21:00] up, that feeling great, I'm just gonna trust myself and point blank. Yeah, I also, so I'm a sacral therapist, and with that there's a, yeah, there's a lot of stuff that comes up, right? A lot of intuition. And that took me many, many years to trust. Like it was always in me. But then like something weird would come up during a.

And I say weird because weird things come up during Greenville Cycle. Yeah. Sessions. They just do, you're working directly with someone's body, you know, there are stories in there and they just kind of come out and like, just like you, a question would just come to my mind and I'd be like, at first I would just ignore it.

I would just say like, I'm not asking that. Like, oh my God. Like I, you know, I just felt like, ugh. And then eventually I was like, okay, if it's like just not shutting up in my head. I'll say to the patient, you know this, this question keeps coming in my head, so I'm just gonna put it out there. And you decide how that feels.

And you're right, every, no matter how weird it was, it was like every [00:22:00] time it sparked something, it may not have been what I've even thought it would be. But it, it was always Right. Exactly. Yeah. And, and it, it didn't matter if it was right or wrong, but in some way it helped that person or it helped me, and the more I did it, now I just trust it and it is a lovely, lovely thing. But you're right when it comes to, and so work, that's one thing. And with people, I think we get used to that. It becomes part of the job, right? Yeah. But then when it's decisions of yourself, like, should I leave work?

Should I move? Should I have another child? Should I. You know, we still have those same intuition and gut feelings, but then we're always like, oh, like why are we struggling so much there? I guess because there's a lot depending on the, it's too close. It's it's way too close. You can never be a hundred percent.

, Unrelated if it's you, right? Mm-hmm. Because you've already got bias, you've already got input, you've already got buy-in, [00:23:00] you've already got time and effort and whatever else that you've spent in that space. , And so a lot of times I'll imagine myself, doing it to somebody else. So if somebody else came to me with this problem, , and again, it's always relates back to the kids and, and emergency nursing.

So the one time my daughter, . She fell off the couch or something and like, pretty young. She was my second kid. Um, she fell into carpet, immediate cry, but for some reason, like I was like freaking out. And so I'm like, okay, what am I, what am I gonna do in this? I'm like, okay, if somebody else brought her into triage for me to see, and I'm the triage nurse.

What would I say? I'm like, I would laugh them outta the triage booth. I'm like, okay, okay. Everything's fine. It's fine. Everything's gonna be fine. But it took removing myself from the situation in order to be a little bit more, uh, objective about it because again, mm-hmm.

You can't unsee through the parenting lens once you're a parent. You can't unsee from the nurse lens once you're a [00:24:00] nurse. You know, you just can't. It's one of those switches that you can't flip off no matter how much you wanna do. But it is becoming about trusting yourself.

And I also think just as you did with your work, and I did with mine. As you see the responses that it was the right move, right? Yeah. So as we practice and you see the response, you're like, wow, that was really good.

I'm so glad I trusted myself. You know? Or maybe you're not trusting yourself and it's like, oh shoot, I should have trusted myself. Okay, let's see that response then, right? As you, you start to see those things, then you can say, oh, like, and feel more confident probably in trusting yourself. Yeah. Keep track.

Write it down. Yeah, write it down, please. Mm-hmm. I'm begging you because the number of times that I should have written stuff down, but haven't, , I could have been, , further along in, in figuring this out or figuring myself out [00:25:00] or, or doing all these other things had I just had a way, or I've been smart enough to like write it down because once it's written down, you can refer back.

And then go, oh, well I, oh, I forgot about that day. Oh yeah, I did trust my gut. And oh, I did go with it. And Oh, that was the response, or that was the outcome. Holy cow. Okay. And it just kind of, you forget. To reinforce it to yourself because you, we, again, we've got so much going on, we just go and it's, and it's forgotten about where is, if you write it down and then you come back to it and you're like, oh, I, I did actually do that.

And, and that's what happened. Or it's something where you, you put something out, you trusted your gut, and it takes time for that. To come back to, right? Like, oh, um, I applied to these jobs and totally forgot that I did that. Well, I ended up getting, so this happened to me, ended up, uh, after my second, uh, applying, I must have applied to this job 'cause [00:26:00] I got it, uh, was a pediatric job on like a peds floor and it was a job share position, so it was part-time, but it was guaranteed hours and a schedule, which was.

Beautiful. It was the best of both worlds. So I was like, I don't even remember applying for this job. And again, it, it probably took months for things to finally get moving. And HR is slow and it's a really big hospital system, whatever. But I'm like, well, how else did they get my resume? Like, I, I had to have applied.

We're in a union, like there's no way to get a job without applying for it. With the, within a union setting, huh? Uh, well, I guess I must have applied and so maybe it was me waking up at three in the morning and just kind of like groggy, like, oh, what goofing off? And again, you're in a postpartum haze and, and applying to stuff.

Maybe that's what I did. I don't know. But ended up, , that job, ended up again really letting me. Start to run into [00:27:00] my intuition and trusting my gut and going to reiki and, and, figuring out all this other things. Like that job really, especially on my spiritual journey, like really started, to put on the gas for that.

Like it was really the tipping point. For a lot of things. And again, I don't remember how I got it. So it's like, okay, everything happens for a reason. Clearly this happened for a reason. Yeah. I mean, that's a big trust because here you are opening whatever it is, an email, a phone call. I got a, a job.

Right? Yeah. And you don't even know you applied to it. So you really have to trust like, okay, you're not gonna take this job that I didn't buy. I'm like, I'm pretty sure that sounds like me. Or it was, honestly, it was probably like middle of the night while working a night shift in the emerge. Yeah.

Probably was having a hard time looking through the job postings online at work, being half out of it and just applying to stuff randomly because you can save your, you know, within the portal, you can save your cover letter, you can save your resume, whatever. So it probably was [00:28:00] three clicks and that was an off.

Mm-hmm. And completely forgot about it. . So, okay, for people who struggle with following their own intuition, they can feel the feelings, their gut. I mean, a lot of us, like you said, know that gut feeling, um, but they really struggle 'cause they feel that they can't trust it. What should they start doing?

I just dare you to trust it One time. I, I dare you. Yeah. Trust at one time, see what goes on. And again, it can be a very small thing, you know, oh, I wanna go left instead of right today. Oh, maybe I'll just order groceries in versus like going out or maybe let me just, um, I'm just gonna take a different route to work.

Mm-hmm. Instead of your typical A, B, C, D route. Let me, let me use my GPS and, and maybe I'll, I'll go, I'll just start like driving and go. Just left or right. Mm-hmm. And then go, and then left or right, [00:29:00] go left, right straight, go. You know, just, and see where you end up. Um, my, my most favorite thing to do is, um, I've been to Salem, Massachusetts probably about four times now.

And again, out of nowhere, just wanted to go to Salem. I'm like, I, and this was pre pandemic. I was like, I don't know where that came from, but. Sounds good to me. I wanna go. So ended up going alone. First time I'd ever traveled alone, and I would just walk. Mm. And again, there's a lot to do in Salem. The history there is ridiculous.

Um, just so much architecture and so much to do. And again, it has its touristy moments, but there's just so much to do and so much history. So again, I would just walk and then I just would, I think I wanna go into this store. Oh, I think I wanna go into that store. And sure enough would find things or talk to people or find out about something else that I don't think I would've figured out unless I'd gone into that store.

Mm-hmm. And so it's a nice little exercise that [00:30:00] takes no. It's no skin off your back, especially if you're doing it maybe in, , your town, but you don't really go to this one side very often or, so my hometown, there's three different cores, um, of smaller towns that had merged together through the years.

And so I'm very used to my little, cornerstone of, of Gault, Cambridge. So walking around, one of the other, downtowns. It was like really cool 'cause it's like, oh, this is, it's all brand new and I'm safe, I'm in my hometown, but it's just something else to do. And it's getting you out of your comfort zone, which sometimes the comfort zone, as much as it's amazing and lovely and, and super soft, um, it can be a detriment because you get too comfortable.

Mm-hmm. And then you, then it becomes very hard to kind of. Push out. Right. And I feel like growth always happens outside the comfort zone. So beautiful things happen there. And it's funny, as you're talking, I, I am like remembering this story. I was driving to work the other day and of course right in front of [00:31:00] me,

totally closed off. Huge accident. You may have been there, who knows, taking care of other people. No, I'm just kidding. Um, but all of a sudden I'm like, oh, like people are starting to turn around. And then I was like, I wonder if there's another way, just something, and I am. Mm-hmm. Like I am not. Like I need my GPS to get home from my backyard.

Like I am awful at directions. That's okay. Vulnerable. That's what GPS is for. That's what it's for. Thank goodness. So I'm terrible, but I was like, hi, I just wonder if there's another way. And all of a sudden, from the distance I see this cartoon and I was like, I feel like he knows where he's going.

I don't know why. I just was like, I feel like, and I followed him. I just followed him and. All of a sudden he made a left, he made a right and I came out around the accident on the street that I wanted and I've learned something new like, oh my God, like I can get around this way. Amazing. And right. I just followed my gut, if you will, to say there ha, I feel like there's something else.

Right. Let me stop before I turn around like [00:32:00] everybody else is doing. And it's amazing what you can find a whole like secret. Route that I like bypassed all the traffic from this one poor guy who I followed. He didn't know I was, I was good at that. But yeah, so interesting. Right? So the good things can happen when you follow your intuition and step outta your comfort zone.

Yeah, a hundred percent. So what's one thing you'd like moms to start doing after listening to this podcast? Ditch guilt. Guilt is the most useless emotion. It is another way for somebody else to control how you behave. Oh, I love that. Fuck guilt. Just get rid of it. It's completely useless. It has no, it's not keeping you safe.

It's not keeping you sane. It's not doing anything for you. If anything, it is just breaking you down day by day. Ditch it. If you can. Yeah, it's a process. [00:33:00] Yeah. Everything's a process. But I love what you just said, that it's not doing anything for you and it's a way someone else can be controlling you. So that, I love that.

That's amazing. So where can the listeners find you and what do you offer? Oh my gosh. So my books are all on Amazon, so if you search up Jennifer A. Johnson rn, you'll find my page. It's got the villain journal. It's got a bunch of, um, nursing journals in my nursing book, uh, nursing Intuition, how to Trust Your Gut.

Save your Sandy and survive your career. You can find me at, uh, nurse jen. JEN n.ca is my website. You can find me. Oh my gosh. Uh, Instagram and Facebook, uh, at er nurse dot jen, JENN. And then I'm actually most active on LinkedIn. I don't, again, it's one of those weird random things that I happen to figure out, but everybody needs to be on LinkedIn.

It is a huge. It's got huge potential for [00:34:00] anybody who's even just looking to connect with like-minded people. It's, it's fantastic. So on LinkedIn, I'm Jennifer Johnson, B-S-C-N-R-N. Thank you for coming on the show. This has been such a fun conversation. You're joy to talk. To, and I know you have worked hard today, or maybe it was yesterday am I don't know what time. Yeah, it, I just got off a shift at seven, so that was about an hour ago.

Oh my goodness. Well, thank you for showing up for us and anytime for everybody else that you're helping anytime, just happy to help. Thanks for listening to today's episode, and Jen was such a pleasure to talk to you. If you wanna learn more about her and all that she offers, just click on the link in the show notes

and until next week, keep carving out time for yourself and keep putting yourself on top of your to-do list.