Resilience

The Resilient, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Comedic resilience - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Thanks to a recommendation by NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, I checked out the Netflix series the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.  I binged on the first four episodes and lost nearly two hours of my day.

For those of us who honor resilience of all kinds, this is a comedic and charming indulgence.

Compassion Fatigue?

What is compassion fatigue?

a. Tired of feeling sorry for others.

b. Sick of being compassionate.

c. Giving up on caring.

d. Whatever.



According to Mathieu (2012), "Compassion fatigue is the profound emotional and physical exhaustion that helping professionals and caregivers can develop over the course of their career as helpers." Our ability to extend empathy, hope, and compassion erode, leading to a decline in professional and personal function (Mathieu, 2012).

Give me an "Amen" if you too have experience compassion fatigue.  Some of us are helping professionals or have demanding caretaking roles in our personal lives.  Or both.

With the guidance of experts in the field, let's unpack this topic and consider it's relationship to resilience, stress management, and wellness.


References:
Mathieu, F. (2012). The Compassion Fatigue Workbook.  Routledge: New York.

 

Delving into Compassion Fatigue

Marathon Shopping

Tea for Two

Bloom Where You're Planted

Sometimes life takes you strange places....like the Wisconsin Dells.

This reminds me of the concept "locus of control."  An "internal locus of control" means that one believes that he/she can control many factors in life (Judge & Bono, 2001).  In a study about locus of control and its relationship to work stress and depression among direct support professionals, it was found that workers with an internal locus of control lessened the negative effects of work overload and that these workers were less likely to be depressed than other workers (Gray-Stanley, Muramatsu, Heller, Hughes, Johnson, & Ramirez-Valles, 2010).  When workers became overwhelmed by workplace and/or external stressors, other resources, such as the support of co-workers, appeared beneficial.  

Being in the Wisconsin Dells was not my preference on a cold, snowy weekend in February. What I was able to control, however, was an hour of complete freedom, running the main thoroughfare through the water-park decorated destination.  If only for an hour, the mastery and control over my environment alleviated stress and positively affected the rest of the weekend.

References:

Gray-Stanley, J.A., Muramatsu, N., Heller, T., Hughes, S., Johnson, T.P., & Ramirez-Valles, J. (2010).  Work stress and depression among direct support professionals: the roles of work support and locus of control.  Journal of Intellectual Disability Research: Jidr, 54, 8, 749-761.

Judge, T.A. & Bono, J.E. (2001).  Relationship of Core Self Evaluations Traits - Self Esteem, Generalized Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control, and Emotional Stability - With Job Satisfaction and Job Performance: A Meta Analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 1, 80-92.  

It's Temporary

A wise person told me once that most things in life are temporary and, that if we are patient, endure, and wait long enough, whatever we are currently experiencing will soon be over.

This brings hope to me on a bone-chilling February day, when my body is craving a run and the treadmill holds no allure.  Tomorrow, even just tomorrow, it will be 18-20 degrees warmer.  So I will endure either the treadmill or a recovery day, and look forward to a great run tomorrow.

This reminds me of unpleasant tasks in other facets of my life - telling clients news they don't want to hear, testifying in court, having a difficult conversation with a colleague.  The beauty of these moments is that they too build endurance - or can lead to recovery - and that they are temporary.

As life goes, the most beautiful, wonderful moments are temporary too.  Let's saver the beautiful today and endure the less pleasant.

Cheers!
~emily

Faster is not always better...

Faster is faster: quicker, over and done, hurried.

Faster is not necessarily being fully present, experiencing through each of our senses, staying grounded.

The waterfall reminds of me of this.  When I visited the northern Georgia Appalachian Trail, the waterfalls surprised me.  The June weather made it possible to easily get into the water and experience its fall. Looking at the photo, there doesn't seem to be a lot of water falling, but that's not how it felt: Under the falls, I felt pummeled by the water and, when I lost my footing along the rocky floor, I feared I'd be overcome by the water above and below me.  Within a few seconds I regained my steadiness and started to enjoy the unique sensation (it wasn't at all like taking a shower!).

Resisting the urge to just "run through" the falls like I would have a sprinkler as a child -- choosing with intention to be in the moment --- to feel the falls on my head, face, arms -- feeling it's temperature, smelling the unique freshness.  That's my message to myself today.

It's my last full day in San Diego at an incredible conference with a long run planned at lunch time.  I will try to experience the day remembering that faster (even during my run) is not always better.

The Journey Begins

This is the first blog post in Running in Our Shoes: reflections on being a social worker, educator, runner, woman, and human.

I'm attending the San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment this week.  One of the themes of the conference is secondary traumatic stress, which is a subject I've been researching this past year.  Secondary traumatic stress has related concepts such as compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and burnout.  

While in San Diego, I'm also enjoying the warm weather, a reprieve from my home of Iowa's winter.  4.5 miles yesterday and more to be logged today.