Eve, a professional psychologist, worked for many years with a cancer care ward in a hospital. Every day she helped people learn skills to deal emotionally with one of the hardest things to happen in life, diagnosis of oneself or a loved one. Every day she went home glad she’d been able to help a little, and glad to have her own health and a pleasant life. Then, little by little she started to feel worn down, pessimistic, demotivated, and hopeless.
Eve was experiencing compassion fatigue. After so long in a caregiving role, hearing about the stress of others so regularly started to make her feel like she just couldn’t do enough. She questioned her own effectiveness every day, and it just got worse when she had trouble sleeping. Eve knew to reach out to her own psychologist for help, and was soon recovering and redirecting her life in ways necessary to recovering from compassion fatigue. It was time for her to move on from cancer care, but after a recovery period she still chooses to serve and care for others in her capacity as a psychologist.
Many self-care basics were key to her recovery, and are a great basis for us all to incorporate in maintaining our ability to avoid compassion fatigue, and keep up the small kindnesses of every day life.
- Take time to eat well.
- Have good sleep habits.
- Take advantage of the benefits of meditation.
- Have some fun staying active.
- Maintain family and friend relationships.
- Don’t spread yourself too thin.