Last week at the hospital….. 

I had had it.  Too many days in a row working, too many complaining people, too many demanding patients and demanding families.  Gosh that sounds negative on my part but I’m not going to sugarcoat it, the energy required by healthcare providers is monumental.  You need physical energy to move around the hospital, up and down floors, in and out of rooms, lifting people, catching people, bending awkwardly, reaching awkwardly.  You need mental energy to focus on what you’re doing, to critically think about what is going on with a patient, to determine the best way to treat it, to monitor to see if the treatment you chose was the right one, was it working?  It requires emotional energy (the hardest one of all for me, because I just give and give and give until I’m just totally spent) - providing an ear for a scared patient, answering questions for patients and families, delivering terrible news, providing comfort throughout uncertainty.  Sometimes we are tasked with explaining that logistically things are challenging in healthcare.  That even when you know that a certain thing needs to happen to move the needle for a patient, you might not have the resources, the support, and ultimately the ability to take care of them the way they require.  The stress adds up.  It really does.  

So I sit here right now, writing this, with my dog sitting at my feet and the writing is cathartic, and I feel able to release a bit.  Soon, it’ll be time to recharge and start over again and I’ll be ready.  

If this sounds like you - take the time to figure out what best helps you to recharge that caregiver energy and then nurture that part of yourself.  It makes the hard work much more enjoyable if you can approach it with a full tank rather than running on fumes.