Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™ - #healthynurse Spotlight Series - Chelsea Rolfes, BSN, RN
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A nurse's passion for health and wellness shines bright for others.
If you ask Chelsea Rolfes what she’s most passionate about, she’ll say it’s helping the average person live a better, healthier life.
She does this in multiple ways. One is her career as a nurse — and another is modeling what a healthy, balanced life looks like.
Chelsea has always been drawn to health and wellness, and from an early age knew she wanted to be a nurse. Despite the challenges of a nursing career, she understood the importance of self-care from the beginning.
“When you’re the best version of yourself, you provide better care to other people,” she said.
Beyond her passion for both health and nursing, Chelsea has always had an itch for travel which led her become a traveling nurse. She loved the flexibility this gave her career and lifestyle.
Working as a traveling adult medical surgical nurse, Chelsea became frustrated by the “quick-fix” mentality so often attributed to traditional medications and treatments. Many times, people ignore the fundamental cause of a health problem and turn to medications to mask the effects, without fixing the root issue.
That’s when Chelsea’s enthusiasm for both nursing and empowering others sparked an interest in functional medicine — using food and healthy lifestyles to heal the body.
A Shift in Priorities
At this point in her career, Chelsea was hungry for knowledge and a change of pace. She enrolled in a holistic nutrition program at a local college. Shortly after, she accepted a position at Trusted Health — a platform that connects nurses to flexible opportunities. Chelsea now leads a team of nurse advocates. These are nurses who have left the bedside to use their clinical expertise to improve the healthcare industry.
Despite this career shift, Chelsea still prioritizes nutrition and exercise. Her creative outlet is spending time in the kitchen creating healthy recipes. She loves exploring the use of different herbs and supplements, getting outside in nature, and she teaches spin classes regularly.
“I believe in balance, not following a certain diet,” Chelsea said. “It’s so important to stay true to what makes you feel good and listen to your body.”
Her healthy lifestyle is inspiring, but she’s not shy about its challenges. She says one hurdle was transitioning to working five days a week, compared to her former 3-days-a-week schedule as a bedside nurse.
“When you work Monday through Friday, ‘me’ time gets cut,” she said. ““The nurse in me always wants to put everyone else first, but I have to step back and be sure I am continuing to do what makes me happy — aka healthy. This means finding a routine and building in time to work out, practice yoga and mindfulness, and get in my cooking and meal prepping.”
Chelsea’s Advice
Nurses face many challenges when it comes to wellness. But it’s not impossible to prioritize well-being. It’s for the benefit of those around you, after all.
Chelsea recommends the following tips:
- It starts with a positive attitude: Be the energy you want to attract. You can’t create a positive lifestyle with a negative attitude. There’s always a way to see the glass half full.
- Find a passion related to health and wellness: When you have a drive/inspiration related to wellness, incorporating it into your life is no longer a chore: It’s a delight. When you truly enjoy what you do and you love the people you surround yourself with, your positive energy will show.
- Improve your life while improving others’ lives: As a nurse, you constantly put others before yourself. By improving your health and sharing your learnings with the world, you can make the world a better place.
Chelsea Rolfes, RN, BSN, is a Nurse Advocate Team Lead at Trusted Health.
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#healthynurse Spotlight
12/17/2019 4:06pm CST
The #healthynurse Spotlight is a shout out to nurses who are making changes in their lives to improve their health and wellness. You can too! Read their stories for inspiration here.
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