SURVIVING STRESS AIN'T A WALK IN THE PARK

Today, for the first time in almost half of a year and a day, I woke up relaxed, calm, and smiling.

I had almost forgotten what that was like.

Sometimes, I think, we don't realize what a load of stress we're carrying, nor the toll it takes to carry it, until part of it is lifted from our shoulders.

Sometimes (most often, actually) we're the ones who have to do what it takes to throw off part of that load. 

We might not really want to. 
We might not really be able to afford to. 

But to continue with it weighing us down, and to continue to pay that price - those are going to bring us to our knees ... and we want that even less.

So we do what we have to do.

Me, I just dropped my shift-work hours down to something I think I'll be able to manage.

I had no sooner done that than the scheduling person also snagged from off of my shoulders the majority of the burden that has made the bearing of it so intensely expensive for me. 

Finally, after all this time, she has assigned me (FOR A WHOLE WEEK!) to ONE, JUST ONE of the five hallways she's been randomly putting me on for God only knows what reason. When I went back full time she asked me if I have a preference about placement. Because I honestly do love all five hallways equally I said that no I don't, thinking that she was just going to assign me to one of said hallways. Ha. SHE apparently interpreted what I said as meaning that I was giving her carte blanche to do that flip-flop random thing at her pleasure. 

With almost everyone on my 'team' having had at least one major life-affecting event over the past couple of weeks, on top of job-related stressors, we're all reeling. Already well on the road to burnout, we've all been struggling. 

When I tried to talk to someone in management about it, she told me that it's up to me to give her solid ideas and suggestions about what to do about it.

That kind of sounds like a bit of a slap in the face, but in reality it's something I've been waiting for. And waiting. And waiting.

On line I went and on line I stayed for the duration of a full night (when I ought to have been sleeping) doing someone else's homework. 

Really.

People whose educations SURELY included training about things related to their chosen career fields have to tell a lowly bottom-of-the-ladder employee to come up with 'solutions' to a problem that is rampant in their industry? 

*laughing*

It's not like I didn't know where to look, being as it's been on my mind for all this time, right?

Anyway, I wrote up a piece that addresses burnout.

I did it my way. Eighteen pages.

Then I did it her way. A page and a half. 

There's no way in Hades she would have made it through even the first paragraph of 'my way'. Her personality type is probably the exact opposite of mine. Fortunately for both of us, my type is a lot more flexible about communication styles. While she cannot flex far enough to even try to 'get' communications offered in 'my' style, I most certainly can flex far enough to offer said communications in 'hers'. 

Being as (with any luck) she might take said suggestions further up the ladder, giving them to her in a format she can understand makes sense. The ones she'd maybe pass them on to would be even less able to grasp the finer points of my narrative than she would. Not for any lack of intelligence, mind you, but only because their brains don't work the way mine does. While I am okay with accepting that difference, they are not. 

We don't speak the same language. I can learn theirs; they cannot learn mine. So it is theirs I have to use if I want to communicate with them at all. Sad but true.

At any rate, today I woke up smiling, which will likely make me smile all day just remembering it.

It's a chilly gloomy rainy day, a good one to get some writing done on COME HELL AND HIGH WATER. I set out Duke's water barrel to collect rain water for him as our tap water is rather on the toxic side, so hopefully at least he will benefit from this day's rain.

As for me, I can't get anything done on my outside projects so may as well spend the day writing - and maybe at long last getting the leather outers for my felted wool boots worked on. 

Writing and doing my projects are stress-relievers for me.

A vicious cycle kicks in without mercy when I get to a certain point.

When the stressors in my life consume all of my internal resources, the load really does take me to my knees. I can't even stand up, let alone take any steps.

When it gets to the point that I have to carry Pepto with me to my shift-work job because the stress of it creates physical symptoms, and live with headaches for the same reason, and resort to adapting my required 'real shoes' to accommodate at least a modified version of my 'happy feet boots' in order to try to minimize the effects of not being able to wear the actual footwear ... and when my 'off' time consists of futile efforts to reconcile myself to the fact that I'm actually doing what I'm doing with (to) myself and my life here ... I have to shake my head at myself.

It's time to ditch the hope of writing a success story about that place. Maybe one about the value of silver linings would work, though.

But first things first, right?

For this day, at least, I've got a reprieve from at least some of the stress, physical, intellectual, and emotional. 

-My feet, legs, back, shoulders, neck, and arms got a whole night of 'full-body heating pad' so they're limber and happy with me for the moment. 
-My eye is appreciating the break from all those spotlights. 
-My mind is at ease, having gotten that narrative written and then translated. That burden is no longer mine. What she/they choose to do with it is not up to me. 
-I've got a bit of a supply of the protein my body needs, so I'm good on that front. 
-I'm not running out of any of my vitamins. 
-My friends and I are making it through what we've got to get through, one way or another, together. 
-Duke is lying by my side while I patter. 
-I have enough project supplies to keep me busy doing basically whatever I want for a while. 
-I can look forward to some stability at that shift-work job for at least the coming week. 
-And, as soon as the new schedule comes out, I can maybe look forward to a few more days like this!

All of the above contribute to the sense of well-being that has me (finally) relaxed on this day.

And so ... it's off I go to find out what sorts of trouble the Young Ones are going to get themselves into and out of, what might be going on in the lives of our Characters, and try to keep the book shorter than the Mamm of Dunnottar one of the Mamm Books. Wish me luck with that. The century of the 500s CE was a busy one, not to mention what happened 12,800 years ago.

OH.

Lest I forget, here's the translated version of that narrative:

Bottom line:

Burnout is going to show up in terms of people: 
coming in late, 
leaving early, 
calling in, 
taking vacations, 
cutting their own hours, 
being less productive than they want/ought to be, 
dragging rather than bouncing, 
developing stress-related illnesses, 
being physically and emotionally drained and showing it, 
not caring as much, 
becoming grouchy, 
and there being a high turnover rate.

Things an individual can do include:
-getting a good solid physical including bloodwork to rule out physical reasons for their malaise and determining whether or not their symptoms are stress-induced, 
-going to a counselor, 
-getting a prescription for stress and anxiety alleviation or using more traditional remedies, 
-taking personal health days, 
-pursuing and developing interests and activities outside of the work realm, 
-eating and sleeping right, 
-using positive self-talk and positive team-talk on a regular basis, 
-taking a vacation, 
-switching divisions or shifts, 
-cutting hours, 
-trying to talk to management about what’s going on, 
-or quitting if none of the above work.

Things a facility might try include: 
=offering said physicals/health screenings and encouraging their people to get them if they’re feeling ‘off’; 
=training staff and management to recognize and respect the signs of impending burnout and/or compassion fatigue without assigning guilt in either direction so that it can be dealt with in an efficient and effective manner; 
=adapting scheduling and assignments when needed; 
=giving credit where credit is due and appropriate compensation; 
=avoiding ‘talking down to’, ignoring, threatening, minimizing, or otherwise insulting staff; 
=taking care when hiring and giving people opportunities to do what they do best without micro-managing; 
=recognizing that there are times that are going to be particularly stressful for staff and offering support and understanding; 
=including healthy shift meals; 
=developing and nurturing core teams; 
=hiring an impartial professional to do an evaluation of the entire functioning of the facility to identify strengths and weaknesses; 
=having someone staff can trust available for them to talk/vent to confidentially without fear of reprisals, either direct or subtle; 
=using all forms of media for recruitment purposes; 
=management picking up shifts rather than making their staff work short (then chastising them) –  
=volunteering to come in during notoriously difficult times (or hiring someone *short shift* for those few hours every day/evening) –  
=providing what is needed to minimize ‘behaviors’ during those same hours … generally a reduction of sensory stimulation for those sensitive to it; 
=ASKING staff (sincerely and nicely) what is needed and then PROVIDING it; 
=discovering and maximizing the unique talents and strengths of individuals; 
=without de-emphasizing the rights of residents, making it clear that staff also have rights which may not be infringed on; 
=recognizing, accepting, and acting on the fact that you cannot get to the root of a problem by blaming the leaves that get sick and fall from the sick tree that made them sick in the first place. 

Or, as an old cowboy would say, ‘You don’t ride your workhorse until it drops – and then blame the horse.’

Also: you can catch a lot more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. 

And: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.