Being a very visual person it helps me when I associate an image to a situation in life. Having worked with seniors for nearly twenty years, being dedicated to what I do I give a lot of myself to the people around me. If you work in a care field and I would say in any field where there is a lot of giving this visual may help you.
Death unfortunately plays a big part when working with seniors and it is very hard to handle at times. Though in my eyes seniors are certainly not dying they are all very much alive. Seniors around me really nourish my soul and offer me great life lessons. I embrace them every time. I wish to share with you times that I have found very difficult but have been supported by my non stick pan theory.
By helping seniors relocate I visit different retirement residences with different clients, and at times I bump into clients that I have recently assisted to move in to the residence that I am now re visiting with another client. That is fun when that happens. When it is not fun, and this has happened, is when I visit a vacant apartment with the client who is shopping for a new address, and we visit a specific apartment that is presently vacant due to a death and it was actually another one of my clients who had lived there. That moment threw me for a loop.
At one point I assisted a couple relocate to a residence. At every meal time they sat at the same table in the dining room. I saw them there a couple times in the dining room so I know who sat in what seat. While accompanying another client for a visit of this same residence I noticed that only Mrs was at the table. I was later informed that Mr had recently passed away. It is saddening to know how her life has changed with her life partner now no longer beside her. A couple months later while revisiting that same residence during lunch time their table in the dining room was empty. I had heard that Mrs had passed away. Seeing her sit by herself really saddened me and seeing their table empty was that much harder. These two people who crossed my path, they both helped build the society I now enjoy, they nourished me in their own way, and now their table is empty.
These are a couple moments that I share with you that make my job really challenging and constantly remind me that NOW is our best moment ever because we never know when it will be over.
All of this may sound really depressing but the good moments really outweigh the bad.
To help me cope, to have the strength to handle the next situation at hand and to make sure that I do not get dragged down by sad thoughts I see it as if I have to be a non-stick pan. A non-stick pan will help you cook your eggs, your eggs will stick enough while you are cooking them and when they are cooked they should slide off easily. And the more you use your pan the more seasoned it will be therefore offering a richer and deeper taste.
This visual helps me tremendously in my line of work, I give all I can to the person I am helping but at one point I must be able to detach myself from all the overwhelming emotions and that is when I am comforted by the thoughts of my ‘pan’.
Many people have mentioned to me that it is a very hard to work in a field of constant giving, and face these challenging situations regularly. When I share with them my non-stick pan theory they say that that image is very helpful for them. I hope this can help you too.