Managing workloads

It’s 2023. I’m most likely closer to my date of dying then I am to my date of birth. This doesn’t terrify me, but what does scare me is the fact I seem to be “growing up”. How did this happen? Can I reverse it? Can I get a refund?

I’m sure many of you are thinking it’s possibly a bit late in life to realise this (or that I’m not actually “grown up” enough), so how did I come to this conclusion?

Well, there have been a few telltale signs…

Resist

The first time I checked in on myself and actually felt grown up was a few months ago. I was walking in town and the lady in front of me fell over – as in absolutely stacked it on to the pavement, face down. She didn’t even have enough time to put her hands out to save herself.

I am giggling now as I recall the incident, and I would have once found it difficult to suppress my laughter as I made my way to help her, but on this occasion I immediately offered help, checked she was unhurt and made sure she was okay to continue walking as she, unsurprisingly, wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

Most importantly, I did all this in my best emergency vet nurse manner with no hint of a giggle. It wasn’t until afterwards that I was able to laugh at this minor misfortune – thankful that she was alright and that my clinical skills were not required.

Rest

Secondly, since my diagnosis of fibromyalgia last year, it has become even more obvious that I need to learn to REST. This is something I’ve never been good at until I’m burnt out – but I have worked hard and am pleased to announce I can now nap!

Even in the middle of the day, I can now lay down for 20 to 30 minutes, listen to a nap sleep story and arise feeling refreshed.

The Calm app (available for Android and iPhone) is excellent for this, and I feel I can work for a full day now. I am carrying out good sleep hygiene and feel very proud of myself for moving part-time with my PhD to allow me to rest well and achieve a good balance between “work, rest and play” (one for the people there!).

Reduce

This final one affects you, dear reader, the most. In my 11th year of writing for Vet Times and VN Times, I’m going to reduce my number of blogs…

I usually have two posts a month published, but for 2023, I’m being a grown-up. I realise I can’t do all the projects I have on (plus PhD, plus earn money) and still remain sane. So the adult in me came up with a cracking idea – why don’t I do one piece a month? That’s a 50% reduction in workload – and, therefore, stress – but it keeps me connected with my faithful readers.

Thanks to the Vet Times team that is always there for whatever hare-brained plans I come up with… who knew I could calmly come up with that idea, propose it and then be happy with a reduced workload?

So for the rest of 2023 there may be a little less of me, but it’s a sign of progress and appreciating myself enough not to overwork myself and burn out. Not to over-complicate things. I didn’t really know that was a thing… and if this is what growing up is, maybe it’s not so bad.

I’ll probably still laugh at people falling over though!