High octane, short staffed, busy, unpredictable, stressful – some of many words we could use to describe the reality of working in health care – we probably all agree on this.
So a question… does this mean that we have to be stressed, highly charged and anxious at work? Or could we accept the reality of our environment and then make a steady claim for ourselves to be at work in a quality of our choosing rather than the environment’s?
As a period of experimenting and learning, I am seeing if at work in the full-on-ness of it all I can hold myself steady; what it feels like when I do; what it feels like when I don’t and what the wider impact is either way.
Noticing the joy of a moment when we afford ourselves and others the space to truly connect with one another – to make eye contact in a way that says I am here to meet you in full and work together – is unsurpassable. In this space we get to see the power of delicacy – how a tender word or sensitive touch can melt the hardest façade and bring us all to a gentler more open place. Magic happens in these moments with colleagues or those in our care – often they are fleeting but always profound.
And for all of us it is these moments that inform how we experience our day; how we feel about the care we have offered and received and how refreshed we feel by a dedication to serve and be together.
By a series of choices can we work our socks off and come off shift feeling vital and inspired? Can we build self-care into our daily lives so we can sustain working hard without feeling wrung out?
I know the answer to both these questions is yes so can only be intrigued to explore whatever it takes to have these standards in my life. The more delicate, honouring and loving I am with myself, the stronger the foundation I have to be this with others. And I look forward to this becoming my norm… ordinarily exquisite.
