Exhausted

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MMiz

MMiz

I put the M in EMTLife
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For those of you who work in EMS, I'm wondering if you ever just feel completely exhausted, and I'd like to know what you do to "recharge your batteries".

I've never worked in EMS for an entire week in a row. It's hard for me to work for more than three days in a row, simply because I see myself losing my passion for EMS the more I work the never-ending BLS calls.

I have a great deal of respect for my fellow stretcher-fetchers who go to work every day and provide the highest level of patient care... even after dealing with the same tiring BS day after day.

So what do you do to relax? What's your secret? It takes a special person to work in this industry, and you have to have some outlet for your frustration and exhaustion. What is it?
 
This was a discussion today....

The comment was made, that one of the "7 signs of a highly successful clinical provider" - is mental readiness, and part of that is, and I quote the presenter - "finding something that works to recharge your batteries" - he gave several examples, including running, working out, spending time with the family, and "just being a couch potato".....
 
I try to ensure that I get enough sleep, or if time does not permit this at the moment, set aside a good chunck later, when I'm off and at home, to just sleep. Spending quiet time with my husband doing anything really......going for a nice quiet walk, taking the pups out, watching TV, sometimes we'll work out together. I'm also an avid reader and gardener. I can really lose myself in a good book. Backyard gardening and birdfeeding is something I also enjoy. When I'm mad I can pull weeds to kingdom come, when I'm all done I can just sit out there and "veg" and enjoy the colors/smells of the flowers and watch/listen to the birds. I'm not sure what floats your boat, you know? Some folks like quiet (like me) to unwind, others like to make a bit of noise, or engage in heavy activity. I'm not sure what your home situation is.....married? single? kids? pets? I can offer generic kind of suggestions not knowing. It really comes down to finding an activity that can take your mind off your job for a little while, to give it a rest. You're from Michigan eh? I should send you up to my brother's farm to get some fruit, salad, and all-organic pies. He could give ya some chores, make ya forget all about EMS for an hour or two.;) I probably haven't offered anything to you that you already don't know. If you ever need someone to yack at, P.M. me or feel free to e-mail me. I may be able to do nothing more than listen. You've helped me and listened to me in the past, I'd be pleased to return the kindness.
 
I'd tell you what I do to get my mind off of EMS for a while...

First, you need to get married, or what ever you do... yanno.. and the rest you can pretty much figure out on your own.


To get back into life, I come home, sleep a while, get up... watch some tv.. snack.. sleep.. then drive somewhere and do something. Jen is never.. and I stress.. NEVER.. home. She works when I do, and when I'm not working too, several 24 hour shifts a week. BUT... We are both, always home from 8pm on Saturdays to 6am on Mondays. So I rest all day, sit around, do some work, etc.. Sleep till like 4am. get up do something. sleep again.. then we drive to the city catch a movie, some shopping, eat somewhere expensive... and come home and.....

That's my life. and so long as I still like my job, I love it. But I could stand to see my wife a little more. Otherwise, we have camera phones to chat on all day. Send pictures back and fourth of stuff.. I take a lot of crash photos, etc.. She take a lot of freaky trauma photos. Nobody ever sees them, so I figure it's not illegal or un-hipaa-safe, whatever. eh?
 
Of course Jen had to go into to work unexpectedly at 7am, and hasn't come home yet... Won't answer her phone, probably off getting married on a tropical island. She opened the window at 10pm, didn't shut it. There was snow all over the place when I woke up, no heat on, she shut the furnace off. Then I wake up with a fever and the need to lose my cookies... Probably trying to kill me. So I slept all day.. And I'll probably do the same thing tomorrow.

Caught something from one of those damn sick people. It's true. We really are human garbage collectors.
 
I have kids, 3, all in sports. My days off usually involve sitting in bleachers somewhere, all day, supporting one of my 3 and their team. In the summer we have to wisk them off to team camps for their various sports. We also have one on a travel league softball team and we travel everywhere... Our longest trip will be SLC this summer. Past that when I have the time I golf, or hunt depending on the time of year...B)
 
My wife and I have started making it a point to get out of town and do things with our daughter on the Saturday's I'm not on duty. That seems to have helped a lot because: 1) she's at the right age now to go out and have fun with and 2) it removes the temptation to respond. If I'm at home and the tones go off, I usually go regardless of what I'm doing...when I'm out of town, I can't do that.
 
I'm thinking about taking up drinking... as a hobby... :P
 
Time management is a huge lesson to learn. Dont try to do too many things at one time, there is no way you can give your full attention to something important if you are split. Main thing is when you get close to the end of your rope take a deep breath and a break even if its a short one and do something you want. The guys at work (and the other medics I run into, even women) because my nails are done. That is my time to unwind though. I give myself the time it takes to get a mani/pedi to not think about anything but me. No kids, no work, no school. I do that evey 3 wks to a month. My once a week thing works well for women and some men. Run a hot bubble bath, grab a glass of wine/beer/milk/juice, some music or a book, a few candles and shut the door! Tell everyone that you will not be disturbed for at least until you are all wrinkled. Its a great way to recharge.
 
This thread was posted back in 2006 when I was exhausted working in EMS. Now I'm exhausted working another job. I've learn the key to not being exhausted: good sleep, eating right, and finding a release or outlet outside work. Thread closed :)
 
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