Flow and Renewal: Water’s Wisdom for Resilient Nursing

I still remember standing at the edge of a river one early morning, watching the current glide around rocks, spill over edges, and pool into quiet eddies. It struck me then: water doesn’t fight its way forward—it flows. And in its flowing, it adapts, persists, and renews.

As nurses, our days rarely feel like gentle streams. Instead, they can resemble rushing rapids—constant, demanding, and sometimes overwhelming. Yet water reminds us that resilience isn’t about bracing against the current; it’s about learning to move with it.

In her book Strong Like Water, Aundi Kolber writes, “True strength is not about pushing through at any cost—it’s about finding safety, compassion, and freedom to be fully human.” Her words are a gentle invitation for nurses to reimagine resilience—not as sheer toughness, but as something more fluid, sustainable, and life-giving.

Rediscovering Flow States

Think back to a time in your practice when you felt fully present—listening deeply, responding intuitively, giving care with a sense of ease. These “flow states” are moments when skill, intention, and presence align. They restore us, even amid the demands of caregiving. Yet barriers like burnout, trauma, and relentless workloads often keep us from returning to that rhythm.

In our retreats and courses, we invite nurses to journal about these moments of flow: When do I feel most alive in my work? What keeps me from entering that space more often? Reflection uncovers not only barriers, but also pathways back to renewal.

A Self-Care Practice: Gentle Attunement

Kolber emphasizes that resilience often begins with small, embodied acts of kindness. One simple practice is to place a hand on your chest, take a deep breath, and whisper to yourself: “It’s okay to be human right now.”

In the middle of a 12-hour shift, it may feel small. But this moment of attunement interrupts the inner push to keep striving, reminding us that we are not machines. Like water pausing in a quiet pool before moving on, we too need moments of rest to gather strength.

As Kolber reminds us, “We can’t heal what we won’t allow ourselves to feel.” Permitting ourselves to pause, even briefly, is a radical act of resilience.

Leadership Lessons from Water

When rivers meet obstacles, they don’t stop—they carve new paths. Leadership in nursing can mirror this same adaptability. Research on adaptive leadership (Swensen & Shanafelt, 2020) shows that teams thrive when leaders embody qualities of fluidity and renewal rather than rigidity and force.

Imagine leading not from constant striving but from the steady, life-giving rhythm of water—responding creatively to challenges, sustaining the wellbeing of your team, and modeling a resilience that heals systems as much as people.

The Invitation of Renewal

Like tides that ebb and flow, our renewal is not one-and-done—it’s a rhythm. By practicing small acts of compassion for ourselves, reflecting on our flow states, and embodying the wisdom of water in leadership, we can navigate the challenges of nursing with greater freedom and sustainability.

When we learn to be strong like water, we discover a resilience that doesn’t just survive the storm, but helps carve new streams of healing for the people and communities we serve.

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References

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Hart, P. L., Brannan, J. D., & De Chesnay, M. (2014). Resilience in nurses: An integrative review. Journal of Nursing Management, 22(6), 720–734. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2012.01485.x

Kolber, A. (2023). Strong like water: Finding the freedom, safety, and compassion to move through hard things—and experience true flourishing. Tyndale House.

Labrague, L. J., & de Los Santos, J. A. A. (2021). Resilience as a mediator between compassion fatigue, nurses' work outcomes, and quality of care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Applied Nursing Research, 61, 151476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2021.151476

Lin, J. N., Su, P. Y., Wang, L. H., Wang, J. J., & Wang, C. J. (2024). A psychometric development and evaluation of the Flow State Scale for caregiving tasks among clinical nurses. The Journal of Nursing Research, 32(5), e347. https://doi.org/10.1097/jnr.0000000000000629

Swensen, S. J., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2020). Leadership essentials for clinician well-being. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 95(12), 2736–2748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2020.09.007

West, M. A., & Coia, D. (2019). Caring for doctors, caring for patients: How to transform UK healthcare environments. The King’s Fund. https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/caring-doctors-caring-patients