![\"TVET-1601_Final-Thoughts_02\"](\"https:\/\/navc.com\/todaysveterinarynurse\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/TVET-1601_Final-Thoughts_02-300x214.png\")
<\/p>\nNurses eat their young.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d never heard that phrase before my training to become a compassion fatigue specialist. It\u2019s what happens when a new nurse hits a unit occupied by veteran nurses. At the first sign of the newcomer\u2019s vulnerability, the seasoned nurse says, \u201cHey, honey, you better get used to this real quick and just suck it up!\u201d<\/p>\n
And this is how we become hardened. This is exactly the moment we start building that protective shield around us. Replace \u201cnurse\u201d with \u201cveterinary technician\u201d or \u201cveterinarian\u201d or \u201creceptionist.\u201d We are all that \u201cnurse.\u201d<\/p>\n
When did you lose your naivet\u00e9?<\/p>\n
I once facilitated a workshop in which a veterinarian said to me, \u201cIn vet school, we learned to work at an insane pace, skipping meals and sleep, and were told to just suck it up. I never even thought about how crazy it was until I look back on it now. Wow.\u201d Perhaps the pace and expectations are inhumane? Perhaps a profession built on empathy and compassion needs to first extend it to oneself?<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve done nothing wrong. It was your training that was wrong. You were never taught how to ensure your own well-being before you offer your help to another.<\/p>\n
Yet in my workshops, I see the strain on the faces in the room. The veterinary technicians are often just waiting for me to tell them that the way they feel is normal.<\/p>\n
We build up walls around ourselves and around our hearts for mere protection. It\u2019s a brilliant idea, except it doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
We can\u2019t selectively choose which emotions we are going to let in: Sadness? Nope. Despair? Definitely not. Anger? No. Joy? Sure! It doesn\u2019t work that way.<\/p>\n
As Bren\u00e9 Brown says, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.1<\/p>\n
So then how do we protect our vulnerable hearts, yet still be empathetic and compassionate? There\u2019s a big question with a big answer.<\/p>\n
It starts with being with what is, or mindfulness. This is a practice. Mindfulness asks us to be in the moment, in the actual experience without judging it or having expectations about it. We are hardly ever truly in the moment. Right now, as you are reading this, you are likely also thinking about something else, something you are doing later or something that occurred earlier. We live our lives through the cacophony of our minds.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My friends, an untrained mind is like a drunken monkey stung by a bee.\u00a0An untrained mind constantly produces suffering. I\u2019ve often said I am a student of suffering. It\u2019s a lifetime of suffering that led me to do the work that I do around compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is suffering, and I know the way out.<\/p>\n
So back to the mind. Its job is to keep you safe, so it\u2019s constantly scanning your life to find ways to do that. This is a noble job. However, one of its most basic\u2014and outdated\u2014responses is to create fear and separation. We no longer live in a world where a predator is around every corner. We no longer have to be on guard every moment of every day.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve earned the right to enjoy and be in the moment that is happening right now. In order to get there, we need to train ourselves to quiet the hamster wheel in the mind\u2014that mind that is constantly pointing out where we\u2019ve fallen short or aren\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
How do you do that, you might be asking?<\/p>\n
I can tell you that by incorporating those practices into your daily life, you will start to rejuvenate and become reinvigorated. I\u2019ve witnessed it personally. I can also tell you that you will begin to work from a place of abundance rather than depletion.<\/p>\n
Perhaps for the very first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nurses eat their young.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-janfeb-2016","column-final_thoughts","clinical_topics-personal-wellbeing"],"acf":{"hide_sidebar":false,"hide_sidebar_ad":false,"hide_all_ads":false},"yoast_head":"\n