Take care of yourself so you can take care of others

By James D. Dawes, MHA, COE, CMPE

This year’s blockbuster movie is “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” but it should be “The Super-Powered Healthcare Worker.” You are superheroes: Many times understaffed and under-supplied, while often taking care of kids, partners, parents, and sometimes even grandparents, you manage to get the job done. (Unfortunately, this real superhero story probably wouldn’t sell many tickets at the box office.)

One thing we do have in common with our fictional superheroes is that we have weaknesses and we have breaking points. I have learned the hard way that if you don’t take care of your body, soul, and mind, one day they will all decide for you to take their own time off — that is, you reach your breaking point. The purpose of this article is to give you a few tips on care and self-maintenance.

The key is resilience, the capacity to recover quickly, which is a necessary characteristic to possess in order to survive and thrive. Think of a rubber band. If always stretched to the maximum, it will eventually lose its shape, grow brittle and break. Flexing and stretching is what gives it elasticity. By flexing after we are stretched, we can get back into a non-stressed natural state and regain resiliency.

Of course, it’s easier said than done when the ASC is short three lenses and the surgeon is five deep in patients and down two scrub techs, right? And the school informs you that your daughter has a fever and needs to be picked up immediately. Yet resiliency is keeping calm, prioritizing, going to plan B, C, and sometimes D, while keeping yourself together and managing your team. So, how do you do flex under such circumstances?

Allow yourself time to not be stretched to your maximum. Here are some ways to help flex back to your natural state:

• First and foremost, turn off your phone. Not just silence. Turn it off. (Remember, civilization has survived for thousands of years without cell phones.)
• Exercise. Go for a walk or run. Do yoga or take a bike ride.
• Go for a coffee or drink with friends.
• Sit on a park bench or in your back yard and read a book.
• Go to church.
• Meditate or pray.
• Take a long hot bath.
• Go for a message.
• Get a new haircut.
• Read a book to your kids.
• Watch a movie with your partner.
• Laugh, laugh, laugh. Find something or someone to make you laugh until your stomach hurts.
• Get a good night’s sleep.
• Only then, after you’ve flexed, turn your phone back on.

Just as you put gas in your car, fill up your “engine” every week. Commit to some of the above activities and put them on your calendar. People, family, patients, doctors, team members, all need you. You are strong, now build your resiliency, that inner core strength, so you don’t snap. Don’t let yourself run out of gas on the interstate. A broken rubber band is of no value to anyone or anything. Become resilient. Allow yourself to flex back to your natural state so you can withstand the stretching of the stressed state. OP