Is Resilience the New Buzzword?

There is a lot of talk about stress in EMS. It is legitimate. Being a medic is stressful. Some of the stress is good, some is not-so-good, and some is very bad. Maybe you have managed to have a long career in the business. You have seen a lot of change! Maybe you have managed to get by relatively unscathed. Unfortunately, there are many who have not.

So…what is resilience and why does it matter?

Dictionary.com defines resilience as “the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity.”

I like that.

Do you remember when you were a child? Nothing kept you down. No matter what happened, you picked yourself up and kept going, right? That was resilience. You were tough! You fell. You bent. You stretched. But you didn’t break. You returned to your original form At least that is the way it works for most kids.

So why is it so hard now. Life! The job! Somehow, you learned that you were supposed to suffer. Or maybe you finally reached a limit that pushed you beyond your capacity. Or you watched other people that seemed to have it all together and didn’t want to admit you did not…so you kept it bottled up. You stopped bending. You stopped stretching. When you compressed, you didn’t return to normal. Or you bent so far you broke. Or stretched so far you snapped.

That doesn’t have to happen!

So what now? Why does it matter anyway?

Medic class 101. The physical results of stress. Stress increases the heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and keeps you from being able to think clearly and make rational decisions. Under “normal” circumstances, you have stress. You have the symptoms. The stress resolves and the symptoms go away. Simple enough.

Except, what happens when the symptoms don’t go away? When you have stress that keeps nagging at you. Your heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and ability to think clearly and make rational decisions continues to be impaired. The bad thing is you don’t always notice it right away. So the stress hides inside you and you accumulate more and more. And finally you have a heart attack or stroke. More likely, though, you will get irritable or cynical, have anger problems, stop caring about the job, or the agency, or your partner on the job, or your significant other, or….you get the picture. On top of that, you don’t eat well or exercise regularly. Okay…now I’m meddling.

So I have one word for you. Stop!

Easy, right?

Trust me. I know it isn’t. That’s why I am here. To help you figure this out. To give you pointers so you do not have to suffer the consequences of the stress you get on this job.

I hope you will stay tuned. Please let me know what helps you become or stay resilient. I want to know your thoughts.

‘Til next time!

November 17, 2016 © 2016 Resilient Medic