Unpacking the Pandemic: Question #3 How are you showing up as a Patient?

It's Time to Take Care of Ourselves - It’s not Selfish it is “Essential!”

The collective trauma our country and world has experienced over many of thousands of years  is becoming more evident each day.  We can choose to be victims of the “Pandemic” or see it as a life lesson.  When we feel like things are happening to us - and people are not behaving the way we want them to - that is a reaction to a deep traumatic response when we felt that we were “out of control and something was happening to us”.

I recently heard that nurses are out “sick” from work at the hospitals and unable to take care of the patients.  I asked… do you think they are actually “sick” or taking care of themselves and not wanting to come to work in such a stressful and toxic situation?

I was told it’s confidential so we don’t know why they are out on “sick time”.

I have witnessed lot’s of teachers leaving their jobs and also wanting to work remotely so they can remove themselves from the environment where there is stress and illness. Sadly I have lost several friends and colleagues over the years to Cancer.

As a Speech Pathologist working with schools for more than 25 years I have witnessed and experienced first hand how the ‘flu” and “viruses” have gone through schools and created  a shortage of workforce.  Last year when I was working in a school in California, the teachers were calling in sick, there were no substitutes and they were doubling up classes to 40+ students.

I have also witnessed in the past and recently how unprepared and unaware our teachers and nurses are about the concept of grief.  It is not “normal” to witness death each day and not have feelings or process that transition for a patient or person you know or the parent or loved one of a child you work closely with.  What is your experience with grief?  How do you process it?

Toxic stress is surrounding us.  It is a part of us and if we don’t start slowing down, becoming more mindful of what is driving our daily activities and choices we will collapse.

The notion that nurses and doctors are responsible for “taking care of us” is not a very healthy one… at least “mentally”.  And if you believe in the mind-body connection, physically. If we need a doctor to tell us we are sick we are not connected to our bodies. 

The nurses have been working tirelessly to “take care of patients” not only physically but spiritually and socially.  Is this sustainable?  The saying you can’t give from an empty cup…rings very true right now.

So what can “we” do now and in the future?  We can:

• check in with our bodies 

• rest when we are tired

• eat healthy food

• think positive thoughts

• feel our feelings 

• become more mindful

• have the courage to heal our past wounds so they don’t show up in the hospital (cancer, autoimmune disease, diabetes, heart disease)

For our teachers we need to take care of our children, and the list above applies in order for us to be available to do that.

I often hear “I don’t have time!”  Well there is no time like the present.

Make a choice to take care of your self- it’s essential. 

Our essential workers are burning out taking care of people who are not “well”. What  constitutes “wellness”  and  “well being”  -  healing  - healing past ‘hurts” and “wounds” that manifest in our bodies.

When coaching a Speech Pathologist who worked in a local hospital - providing “acute” care, considering becoming a Physician’s assistant,  asked her what she liked and didn’t like about her job. She shared that she loved helping in her community but the challenge was that the work she was doing was not as effective because the root cause of the majority (I bet all) of her patient’s problems were exacerbated by unhealed trauma in the form of alcohol and drug abuse, domestic abuse, eating disorders, depression, anxiety.  

How are you showing up as a “patient”… how are anxiety and mental health challenges which compromise the immune system possibly present in your body and mind?  As humans we get “sick” but what is the root cause?

What if a few counseling sessions could calm you down and give you a new perspective on life instead of taking a drink or a pill?  Would you choose that?  Why or why not?. I have literally “felt better” after a counseling session - when I thought I was “coming down with a cold, etc”.

If you are interested in more information about Coaching for Wellbeing, you can email me: jessiegrahamcoach@gmail.com.

Feel free to leave comments below.