4 Tools to Persevere When You Feel Powerless

Being mindful of your resilience is crucial, especially when you feel powerless to change your current situation.

Jessica Buchanan learned this when she was abducted at gunpoint and held for 93 days by a group of Somali pirates. To survive, she tapped into her resilience to combat the overwhelming feeling of powerlessness.

Buchanan believes having the strength to bounce back can be a potent tool for nurses to persevere in any situation. “Nurses are witnesses to suffering and miracles alike. The capacity to hold space for both of those things is a testament to their resilience,” she said.  

Recognizing your capabilities will enable you to leverage other tools to navigate and overcome any challenges. Buchanan – who brings her message to the main stage at AORN Global Surgical Conference & Expo 2024 in March – recently shared four:

1. Sort Your Options from Your Choices

Options are fixed; there is rarely anything you can do to change those things. However, within fixed options, there are many choices, usually related to your mindset, Buchanan said.

When you face a challenge, make choices that help you feel empowered—even if the choices seem insignificant. “This was the decision that saved my life during my captivity: to decide to determine choices in the middle of my most impossible circumstances.”

2. Be Aware of Those Around You

No matter how challenging things seem in your life, someone else has it worse. So, find strength in sending them loving energy. Then find the strength to be grateful for what you have, even if you wish things were different. She describes this skill as “a perspective hack like no other.”

3. Move Your Body

“Every time I felt like I was going to buckle under the weight of despair during my captivity, I moved the panic, negativity, and stress through my body to the best of my ability.” Sometimes, this meant simply stretching on her mat under the tree she was sequestered to.

Nurses working through long cases or having limited time to move during their workday can still practice this. She says the act of movement, in any form, can bring your attention to what you still have.

4. Put Yourself First Sometimes

Because nurses are constantly serving others, they are so prone to burnout. If you start to feel like the weight you carry is too much, think of tangible ways to prioritize your needs, wants, and desires, she suggested. “This helps bring me to a place of immense gratitude for my own strength and resilience.”

Jessica Buchanan chronicled her kidnapping in Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six. She now travels the world to help others access their own resilience and will be a keynote speaker at AORN Global Surgical Conference & Expo 2024 in March.