What has changed since my last post? We’ve had Covid casualties, but now we’ve got stress casualties mounting!

I grow increasingly concerned as I watch the news around the ballooning numbers of Covid 19 cases and the piling death toll this virus has exacted from our communities. The headlines are now, after 9 months of this, starting to focus on the price being paid by our frontline personnel – drawing our attention to their fatigue, helpless exhaustion and smoldering burn-outs. Try to imagine what it must be like! Few if any days off, long shifts, staffing shortages, a selfless sense of duty to save lives, and a pleading cry to limit social contacts, wash hands often, and wear a mask. I can only imagine the cauldron of frustration and anger that must be lurking beneath the surface of many – 100 % compliance and assistance is what our frontline people deserve. That’s not what they are getting with political bickering, non-maskers and those who have called their reality a ‘Hoax’. Stir these ingredients into the old cauldron along with that trusty ‘eye of newt’ and you are brewing the perfect pot of stress-related curses.

I hatched this website because I’ve been there, done that and bought the T-Shirt from the gift shop, as I exited the ride. Long-term stress from multiple sources took me out. It killed my career. It murdered my marriage and flipped the lifeboat of family to which I had been clinging. In order to survive beyond my breakdowns, mental, physical and social – I needed to retool, learn and rethink myself back to wellness. The menacing path I’d escaped had been narrow, steep and extremely slippery. ALL OF THE MEDICAL CAREGIVERS I’M SEEING ON THE NEWS LATELY APPEAR TO BE ON THAT VERY SAME PATH. IT COULD EASILY HAVE KILLED ME. I GOT LUCKY – IT ONLY WRECKED ME!

This website has been up for a couple of years now. It provides some comprehensive strategies designed to strengthen one’s resilience to the effects of stress that are proven effective. The site’s stats bear out that very few individuals have found it or responded to it. That’s why the message feels like it’s being shouted into the wind. I think there is a desperate need for pre-emptive thinking. When a body calls upon it’s various systems to meet the challenges of such long-term stress and the response is “no gas left in the tank”, or “no more oil”, or “oops, a crucial component of this system has broken”; the results are very serious.

If you read this and agree…pass it on. If you know a medical first responder, ask them to seriously consider adding strategies to whatever it is they are already doing. When it comes to stress – the more facets of address we can muster – the stronger our resilience becomes. Finally, remember that the work is much easier when done before something hurts. After the fact, you may be stuck with trying to make something good out of “The damage is done”.