They were talking. I knew that because I could see their mouths moving. Their heads, their faces animated. My eyes...
Stress and Burnout
Recognising the last straw
The last straw. What was your last straw? What made you finally snap after years of tolerating abuse, manipulation and...
Re evaluating what we do: ignore the critics
That Autumn had been the wettest since forever. Not that we knew that then, the statistics come out months after the...
Re-vealing:what really causes burnout?
Recent tweets by the police have been interesting, claiming that it is PTSD – recognised or not – following the witnessing of some pretty horrendous scenes that causes burnout over a period of time. Similarly in medicine some people believe that being party to...
Re-haunting: The day the bikes came
The first pre-alert of the day probably had nothing to do with the annual bank holiday biker jaunt to the coast. A car carrying three young men had crashed. I can't remember the detail, but I do remember a sense of anticipation; possibly even excitement. I...
Re-examining the drive for perfection: what’s your organisational mindset?
This is the first of a series of stories about workplace culture, and how individuals and organisations engage, often unwittingly in a macabre dance of collusion which, it is suggested, is the real reason for burnout. How does your organisation affect you? What...
Reminding myself: what really matters.
The sky is huge here. It stretches, dome-like, as far as I can see, protective yet offering escape to I know not what. Where it meets the sea I have to focus on the horizon, straining to tell which is sky, which is sea. Both a pale blue today, both far out...
Reflections: avoiding burnout – we need to look in the mirror.
I’m starting to look old. I noticed it quite by accident recently when I thought I had a mark on my neck, running lengthways from the top to bottom. Tipping my head back, I tried to wipe the mark away but then realised it was a fold in my skin, which looked deeper and...
Resilience – Let’s treat the cause not the symptoms
Usually it starts over a few days, sometimes weeks. I can feel myself flattening, like a bottle of lemonade with the lid left ajar, its energetic bubbles gradually fading until the colourless liquid remaining becomes sluggish, and finally still. Lifeless. That...
Re-illuminating: gaslighting at work
In the darkness of a late January evening, the rest of my family upstairs preparing for their evening of television in bed, I laid my head on my desk and sobbed. Sobbed in despair. In fear that I was losing my mind. I sobbed because it seemed I had been mistaken that...
Re-assessing: difficult behaviours
My husband does not believe in Christmas. I don’t mean he doesn’t believe in the virgin birth, or even that he is not religious. No. It is Christmas that he doesn’t believe in. He says it’s commercial nonsense. Well, I guess he is right there. He says it’s an excuse...