How
good do you treat number one?
By
Ginger Johnston, ACC
I
have spent the last twenty plus years working in a Long
Term Care setting. I spend more of my waking hours with
the individuals that I serve than I do with my family.
I do not regret that I have made my profession as an
Activity Professional. When we choose the profession
of Activities we decide to provide top-notch quality
care on a daily basis. When we pass by a resident's
room and note that they are in physical pain, we are
quick to help out where we can. Whenever we find that
one of our residents are emotionally distressed, we
try our best to encourage the person to look on the
bright side as much as possible.
Many
of us neglect to treat ourselves as kindly as we treat
others? If you are honest with yourself you will see
that we think of others more often than we do "number
one".
The
days of working in a nursing facility has changed so
much over the years. When I chose to be an activity
director, the majority of my resident's were elderly,
with the youngest resident being in their late sixties.
Today, we have individuals coming into our facility
as young as twenty. We recently admitted a young individual
into our facility that is my age, now that is a wake
up call. I have spent a lot of time talking to this
resident and they have taught me so much over the last
few months. Like me, they spent their time working and
trying to make a living. While completing the initial
assess-ment I was trying to find out some things that
I could provide to make his stay with us much like home
as possible. He had a really difficult time answering
the question, "What did he do for fun?", simply
because he worked all of the time and when he was at
home he found himself working around his house. He posed
the questions to me, "What do you do for fun?"
I had to stop and think about it. Wow, what do I do
for fun? He stated, "that when he got up on the
day of his accident, he never dreamed that he would
not be going home." That is just what happened,
his life was turned upside down. All of the time that
he missed spending time with his child cannot be brought
back.
As
I reviewed my Therapeutic Recreation/Activity Assessment,
I noticed very little on the pursuit patterns that would
meet my interests today. I am in my forties, and while
working in the health care field, I am well aware that
our attitudes toward sickness and death vary over the
course a lifetime. When we are younger, death is at
times viewed as inevitable but distant. We tend to avoid
thoughts of sickness and death, and when we do think
about our own death we imagine ourselves living until
old age, dying at home, surrounded by loved ones, alert
and lucid to the end. The older I get I find myself
thinking about my own mortality. I have decided that
I want to live; I mean REALLY live while I can. How
can we be good to "Number One?" It really
is a simple task; find the time to do the things we
love doing, activities that help us to "chill out",
and look on the bright side of life. Go ahead and be
a little selfish. Give yourself a gift of good health
both physically and emotionally. Take the time to provide
yourself with the same quality of care that you spend
your career giving to others. Take a look at yourself,
and try to see yourself as others see you. What suggestions
would you offer? I hope to try and brighten my day by
keeping life's minor annoyances in perspective. Daily
stresses come in all shapes and sizes. Some are occasional:
disputes with co-workers and family, or even getting
stuck in traffic. Others are chronic, like concerns
about finances or health.
There
is no "one size fits all" solution, but here
are some stress reduction tips that I have found useful:
exercise--this is a great way to relieve stress; just
a 20 minute walk can make you feel better. Try listening
to music, pursuing a hobby, working on a project around
the
house that gives you a feeling of accomplishment, or
even going window-shopping.
Find
out what works for you and stick with it. You do a lot
of good in this world, working as an Activity Professional,
and you probably do not even stop to think of how important
you are to the individuals that you serve. How we treat
our bodies affects our life and our families, as well
as the residents that we serve. Make a commitment to
"Number One". Give yourself 15 minutes a day,
every day, without fail. Grab 15 minutes and you will
see and feel a difference. Even if you take one day
off, you can chalk up 90 relaxing, fun filled, minutes
a week. Just look: 15 minutes x 6 days = 90 minutes
a week, 90 minutes a week x 52 weeks = 4,680 minutes
or 78 hours. Now instead of saying "if I only had
more time, I would take care of myself better"
think of it this way, you have 78 extra hours! Plan
your happiness. Make a list of both the things you have
to do and the things that you want to do. Don't allow
yourself to fall into the trap of allowing the demands
of work to consistently come at the expense of your
family and friends. You need a balance.
I
have recently started thinking more about the fragility
of life and I am working on rediscovering the joys and
the importance of time for my family and myself. The
bottom line for all of us is to successfully integrate
our work with the rest of our life and to clarify what's
important. As Activity Professionals we must recognize
ourselves as a whole person and continually seek new
ways to find what works best for "Number One"
personally and professionally. How would you answer
the questions on your initial assessment? Think about
it, as we may have to be on the other side of the assessment
process one day. NN
|
