How do you avoid burnout?

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Feb 10, 2017

I've been doing it for 22 years and there are days when I feel like I could walk away and never look back. But I don't. I get up again the next day and go right back to it. It's important to have things in your life that occupy your mind and your emotions when you're not at work. It could be your family, it could be a pet (or several), it could be a hobby or a sport - or all of these. But you can't take your work home with you. The families you touch will touch you, and that's okay, but you can't let them take up residence in your mind. I have a spouse, children and grandchildren, a goofy dog, several very engrossing hobbies and I like to watch sports on TV. By keeping my mind and my hands busy I'm able to separate my work from my life. Sure there are kids and families I've connected with, and some of those kids have died, and it helps to understand that just as we didn't do anything to cause them to be ill, we can't possibly "save" everybody. But we can do everything to make what time they have as good as it can be. And when it's time to say goodbye, we grieve a little and move on.

Having said all that, I didn't arrive at this point without some serious soul-searching. I've spent some time in therapy to learn healthier coping methods. I've identified those people in my life with whom I can share my fears and uncertainties, to whom I can unburden myself and who will give me a boot in the pants when I need it. We all need that. Who will be yours?