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NurseAbigail

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I've been dealing with a lot of anxiety at work, mostly the day before work, it is like my body dreadfully anticipates the high stress approaching. Anyone experience something similar? What do you do to cope? Any practical advice?
 

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Pray and ask The Lord to walk with you when you go to work. Remember, He is the faithful servant .Enoch walked with God and so it is with all those that are His. Let Him be The Calm in the mist of the storm.
 
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dysert

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Some practical advice I learned from my therapist is deep breathing. Be conscious about breathing in deeply through your nose, and then slowly letting it out through your mouth. I've found that after about a half dozen or so of these exercises my anxiety has been reduced.
 
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paul1149

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Any practical advice?
I've experienced quite a bit of anxiety, and what I do is try to practice the presence of God in the now. Tomorrow is a different day (mt 6:33-34), so I focus on the fact that the anxiety is attacking me now, and has to be dealt with as a current problem. Nothing has the right to steal my peace and my joy, which are gifts from God.

It may help to think through, down to the source of the anxiety. What is it about the job that makes you tense? Why does it do so? What is the worst that could happen? What different ways are there to deal with the conflict? Am I seeing this situation rationally and accurately? If changes and adjustments can be made, ask the Lord for wisdom on how to do so. If not, put on the full armor (eph 6.10-ff) and do spiritual warfare (2cor 12).

Your heritage from the Lord is peace that passes understanding (see Php 4:4-9), so don't let anything steal it.
 
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Something probably unique to me is, I just recognize that in the grand scheme it doesn't matter, the day is gonna come, and it's gonna go.
I do my best at my job, I work, and I come home. It's just what you've gotta do, it's what everyone does.

Though I take a lot of pride in my work, and my work is something I enjoy, so it may not apply.
 
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NurseAbigail

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Thanks all, i like the breathing thing and the scriptures, yeah, I deal with drug and alcoholic withdrawal patients, stroke pts who are 300-400 lbs, GI bleeds, dying pts, cancer pts, combative, I'm always on my feet...I love my job, but man, the stress... I love my coworkers though, very team oriented.
 
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gym_class_hero

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sounds like a high stress job. Is it affecting the rest of your life? Your walk with God, your physical health(sleep, etc). I had a job I was very good at and loved but it affected the rest of my life in a negative way and after leaving it I know it wasn't what was best for me or what God had intended for me. God bless you.
 
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NurseAbigail

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well in a way it does, im always so tired on my day offs but i really have no other choice, I'm providing for both my parents, they dont work coz my dad has a chronic condition and my mom works certain months only...le sigh
 
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aiki

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I've been dealing with a lot of anxiety at work, mostly the day before work, it is like my body dreadfully anticipates the high stress approaching. Anyone experience something similar? What do you do to cope? Any practical advice?

Philippians 4:6-7
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Does God not hear your prayers for help and strength? Yes, He does hear - and He answers. He will give you exactly what you need exactly when you need it. Not more than you need, not sooner than you need it. He wants us to remain dependent, looking to Him always for His power and support, trusting His promises to care for us perfectly. How cool it is to see Him do so faithfully and consistently, just as He promised He would!

It helps me to remember that I'm never just doing a job to pay the bills. I am an ambassador for Christ wherever I am. I am always his light in the darkness of the world. Or I should be. It's easy to forget that the workplace is a mission field. God intends to touch lives with His love and truth through me (and you). When I really take hold of this, work becomes an exciting prospect, an
opportunity to be used by God to save and transform lost souls and to show God my love by doing my work well. Thinking of work this way makes going to work an adventure and a joy, not merely a tedious, exhausting labour.

Colossians 3:23-24
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
 
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NurseAbigail

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Philippians 4:6-7
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Does God not hear your prayers for help and strength? Yes, He does hear - and He answers. He will give you exactly what you need exactly when you need it. Not more than you need, not sooner than you need it. He wants us to remain dependent, looking to Him always for His power and support, trusting His promises to care for us perfectly. How cool it is to see Him do so faithfully and consistently, just as He promised He would!

It helps me to remember that I'm never just doing a job to pay the bills. I am an ambassador for Christ wherever I am. I am always his light in the darkness of the world. Or I should be. It's easy to forget that the workplace is a mission field. God intends to touch lives with His love and truth through me (and you). When I really take hold of this, work becomes an exciting prospect, an
opportunity to be used by God to save and transform lost souls and to show God my love by doing my work well. Thinking of work this way makes going to work an adventure and a joy, not merely a tedious, exhausting labour.

Colossians 3:23-24
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

True Aiki, yes, i always pray before work and pray for my pts when i can, offering my work to God...but u know, it's nice to vent out sometimes rather than bottle up things inside:help::prayer::nooo:
 
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faroukfarouk

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well in a way it does, im always so tired on my day offs but i really have no other choice, I'm providing for both my parents, they dont work coz my dad has a chronic condition and my mom works certain months only...le sigh
Hi; I see you're providing for both your parents; and I saw your comments also about your ink plans and about your parents' dislike of it.

I would not worry too much if I were you; if you are the adult breadwinner, you can presumably be allowed some latitude to decide as an adult what your personal tastes are, right?
 
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Kit Sigmon

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well in a way it does, im always so tired on my day offs but i really have no other choice, I'm providing for both my parents, they dont work coz my dad has a chronic condition and my mom works certain months only...le sigh

Cut down, before you burn out or worse. Now your parents need help but it
may not all be financial...and it may not be all left on your shoulders,
cause if you fall sick and be unable to work for a long time, what would they do then?
 
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nanookadenord

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I've been dealing with a lot of anxiety at work, mostly the day before work, it is like my body dreadfully anticipates the high stress approaching. Anyone experience something similar? What do you do to cope? Any practical advice?

I can relate! After my days off, I always have anxiety before my next shift and i will detail some of it below.

I am an EMT, so I am taking care of patients as well, not for as long as you do, but caring for patients is my job. I work long days, this past week I did 40 hours in three days, 30 hours in two days. Had two 15 hour days in a row. This is common with my company as I have worked as long as 19.6 hours one shift. I am overworked for sure.

Add on to the above the stress of the company I work for and it's way of doing business and it's a recipe for burn out and fatigue.

Most of our equipment hardly works, it's not maintained the way it should be, we don't have all the equipment that we need at a particular time that we need it because the company is too cheap to buy it. We have one bariatric stretcher that is kept at our main base which is 90 minutes from our satellite base where I work out of. When we have a bari patient we routinely have to drive the 90 minutes to get said stretcher, do the call and then return the bari stretcher to the main base. Now, during the day this wouldn't be an issue, but they will drop these on us when we have already worked 12 hours. So, we are adding 3 hours to our day just in driving back and forth, that doesn't include patient care time and transport time. One night we drove two hours away to have to drive back to the main base to drop the stretcher off and then the 90 minutes back to our base to have to clean the truck and restock it. Then, my partner had a shift at 3:15am and we didn't get back to base till after 11pm and he has a 45 minute drive home.

They routinely schedule people to come in at 3:15 and have them working past 9 or 10pm the night before. I had to take over for my driver, who isn't an EMT, with a patient in the back because she didn't get home till after midnight one night and had to start at 6:30am that same morning. She got less than 4 hours of sleep. The patient's fiance who was in the back with him noticed her eyes closing and making us swerve because she was falling asleep at the wheel. The only reason I could take over was because an RN was accompanying the patient to his appointment.

The company knows these things happen and some have been in an accident because they fell asleep at the wheel and the company throws them under the bus.

I wrote the above so that you can see I can relate to the stress of the job. The only way I can deal with it is by ranting and complaining to my girlfriend who listens to me and allows me to just get it all out. I am lucky that she allows me to do this. I have no real practical advice to give though.
 
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NurseAbigail

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Cut down, before you burn out or worse. Now your parents need help but it
may not all be financial...and it may not be all left on your shoulders,
cause if you fall sick and be unable to work for a long time, what would they do then?

yeah, i know, im praying hard that God show we a way, because right now, all the bills hang on me
 
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NurseAbigail

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I can relate! After my days off, I always have anxiety before my next shift and i will detail some of it below.

I am an EMT, so I am taking care of patients as well, not for as long as you do, but caring for patients is my job. I work long days, this past week I did 40 hours in three days, 30 hours in two days. Had two 15 hour days in a row. This is common with my company as I have worked as long as 19.6 hours one shift. I am overworked for sure.

Add on to the above the stress of the company I work for and it's way of doing business and it's a recipe for burn out and fatigue.

Most of our equipment hardly works, it's not maintained the way it should be, we don't have all the equipment that we need at a particular time that we need it because the company is too cheap to buy it. We have one bariatric stretcher that is kept at our main base which is 90 minutes from our satellite base where I work out of. When we have a bari patient we routinely have to drive the 90 minutes to get said stretcher, do the call and then return the bari stretcher to the main base. Now, during the day this wouldn't be an issue, but they will drop these on us when we have already worked 12 hours. So, we are adding 3 hours to our day just in driving back and forth, that doesn't include patient care time and transport time. One night we drove two hours away to have to drive back to the main base to drop the stretcher off and then the 90 minutes back to our base to have to clean the truck and restock it. Then, my partner had a shift at 3:15am and we didn't get back to base till after 11pm and he has a 45 minute drive home.

They routinely schedule people to come in at 3:15 and have them working past 9 or 10pm the night before. I had to take over for my driver, who isn't an EMT, with a patient in the back because she didn't get home till after midnight one night and had to start at 6:30am that same morning. She got less than 4 hours of sleep. The patient's fiance who was in the back with him noticed her eyes closing and making us swerve because she was falling asleep at the wheel. The only reason I could take over was because an RN was accompanying the patient to his appointment.

The company knows these things happen and some have been in an accident because they fell asleep at the wheel and the company throws them under the bus.

I wrote the above so that you can see I can relate to the stress of the job. The only way I can deal with it is by ranting and complaining to my girlfriend who listens to me and allows me to just get it all out. I am lucky that she allows me to do this. I have no real practical advice to give though.

Having someone listen to you vent, most times help dissipate the stress. Yeah, your work is hard because you guys are first to the scene, and majority of times, the pts you transport are not stable. Big respect to you! I dont know how you can stay sane greater than 40 hrs/week work.
 
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