May 27, 2010, Vol. 8 Issue 5
I wasn’t a LOST fan, so I wasn’t lost about their finale this weekend. I was, however, glued to the edge of the couch during the Grey’s Anatomy finale last week with all of the gunning down of my favorite characters right within the halls and rooms of the hospital, turning the whole place into an emergency room. All that white-knuckled tension — mine, not theirs! It’s amazing what I’ll do and call it, “relaxation” . . .
Fortunately, I can only imagine what it’s like to work in that kind of pressure cooker. It’s much easier to learn from someone who has, so today I’m pleased to introduce you to Diane Sieg, who has taken what she learned as an ER nurse for over twenty years, and turned her experiences into lessons about how NOT to live your life as an emergency. In fact, today, she lives her life from the serenity of her yoga mat.
And, on another topic, I have a few things to say about pink buckets and miles to go . . .
Diane Sieg, RN, CYT, CSP
From Chaos to Calm
Diane Sieg freely admits that she was she was a self-taught expert in emergency living long before she ever worked in an emergency room. “For almost forty years I stayed busy being busy overdoing everything from my exercise routines to my social commitments,” she says in her book, Stop Living Your Life Like An Emergency. “I was the busiest person I knew, but I still felt like I wasn’t doing enough.”
The problem is that when we stay busy being busy, we don’t have time — for anything, not even to take care of ourselves in a real emergency. Emergency living is life-threatening. It threatens our physical health and emotional well-being, our relationships, and our overall quality of life because it keeps us in a constant state of chaos, crisis, and confusion. We are chronically overworked, overwhelmed, and overdone.
“Over the years, I began to realize that, more often than not, the patients I treated created a lot of their own emergencies. Whether it was falling asleep at the wheel because they were exhausted, ignoring warning signs because they were too busy, or rushing to get somewhere because they were running late, their emergency living contributed to the events that brought them to the ER.”
“ER nurses are known for their autonomy, assertiveness, and technical skills,” she noted. “Their courage and compassion for the suffering human spirit are also renown and required, because they are subjected to seeing people in their most vulnerable and dire circumstances. The privilege I had participating in people’s lives on such an intimate level provided me with a unique perspective.
“I saved many people’s lives in the ER, but I didn’t feel like I could really change them,” Diane said. “My time with them was limited and I usually didn’t get an opportunity to follow up with my patients, unless they returned to the ER with another problem. I realized that as a lifestyle counselor, I could make a bigger and longer-lasting difference in people’s lives by counseling them on an ongoing basis. I would much rather work with people before they break down, instead of in a crisis situation in the ER. Today I help my clients change their everyday lives by using the life lessons and survival skills I gleaned from my ER experience.”
The good news is that emergency living is treatable. In her talks, Diane will show you how to rejuvenate your life, increase your free time, and re-discover the joy of living. Sound good? With high energy and life lessons learned from her ER experience, Diane demonstrates how to make space in your life for the daily mindfulness that creates health, energy and real change. Her secret?
“Now my days are filled with intention and energy after discovering a 10,000-year-old secret: Yoga! Less than five years ago during a painful divorce, I found yoga to be a healthy, healing, and grounding practice. What I didn’t know was that yoga would change my body more than kickboxing, marathon running, and weight training combined. It would change my mind more than therapy, vacations, or self-help retreats. And, most importantly, yoga changed my spirit more than sugar, wine, or shoes ever could! I now teach yoga and practice daily, and have incorporated its message into my motivational speaking business because it keeps me connected with myself and my deepest intention: to empower other women. I am more fabulous because of this powerful practice and I want every woman, no matter what her age, to experience it too.”
“I really love working at women’s conferences. Women find and own their power when they come together in a group,” Diane said. “They bring together women of all age groups, from teenagers to women in their 70s – mothers, daughters, sisters, friends. They come together to connect and really to be reminded of the things that we already know but tend to forget in the rush of everyday life.
“Perhaps the most important message for women is just to take time for themselves – to focus on what’s truly important to them,” Diane said. “That’s why I created my half-hour daily 30 Days to Grace practice, to help structure that all-important piece into women’s busy lives and help them live with intention, not just out of reaction. And of course because women do tend to be the caretakers, empowering them has the additional impact of passing along those benefits to their families and friends as well.”
With high energy and heartfelt stories, her opening keynote sets a positive tone to start a meeting or her closing keynote can end a conference on a high note, sending people home with a clear and strong message about the importance of life balance and self care. Audience members leave with the permission and practical skills they need to be more authentic, productive, and balanced in every area of their lives. Bottom line: To create quality relationships, harness the energy necessary to be creative, compassionate and passionate in their work, and be the most effective for the long haul, they have to take care of themselves, first.
And especially for healthcare gatherings, Diane’s newest talk is, “CHAOS to C.A.L.M. -Thriving Through the Reform Storm!” It’s her prescription for the daily best practices that will will help healthcare providers retain quality care, patient satisfaction and a sane staff.
“With the transitions people are facing in this ‘new normal’ of healthcare, they are finding themselves living with a lot of fear, uncertainty, and chaos, trying to do more, better, faster — with less,” Diane said. “Whatever place your nurses are in right now—understaffed, overwhelmed, stressed out or burned out, now is the perfect storm to go from chaos to calm.”
For more information about this and any of Diane’s other programs, give us a call at 503-699-5031 or visit our website.
Yours truly,
Barbara
