by Anonymous | 19th May 2021 | Humanity, Identity
“By the time you are 50, it’s either God or the garden,” said a close friend a decade ago when she was approaching her half century. At a decade younger than she was, I had laughed, pointed out that it had always been the garden for her, and that I couldn’t see me...
by Anonymous | 4th May 2021 | Clinician Stories, The Covid Diaries
I’m scared. What I’ve seen play out before me over the last few weeks scares me as much, if not more than the events of the few short crazy weeks leading up to the first national lockdown in March 2020. Back then there was a sense of solidarity, of battle...
by Anonymous | 27th Apr 2021 | Grief, Stress and Burnout
My dog died last week. She was my second baby, my shadow, my companion, for 15 years. I was her top dog and she was mine. She spent her days at my feet, or cuddled up nearby while I worked, often discernible in the corner of a zoom meeting. If I lay on the sofa, she...
by Anonymous | 13th Apr 2021 | Stress and Burnout, The Covid Diaries
It was week two of facing one of my greatest obstacles, a task so seamless to others, as simple as blinking or breathing. Not that I found either simple in this moment; I notice my blinking is rapid and my breathing is tense, fast, shallow. This familiar and yet...
by Anonymous | 9th Feb 2021 | Clinician Stories, Stress and Burnout
Flicking idly through a glossy, fashion magazine a headline grabs my attention: “A band-aid for bullet wounds: is the self-care craze doing more harm than good?” I am intrigued, partly because I am facing my own conundrums in a work context about whose responsibility...