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Fight Compassion Fatigue with a Few of Your Favorite Things

By Katherine Dobbs, RVT, CVPM, PHR

In my exploration of compassion fatigue, I have found one thing to be true above all others—we simply must take care of ourselves. To withstand a career of compassionate giving, which I’m certain describes all of you in the veterinary profession—we must stop and recharge our batteries from time to time. This is easier said than done, in our fast pace to keep up our jobs, our homes, our families, and a friend or two.

For me, my battery charger is a campfire. I finally got back to the smoky smell of the campfire this past weekend, tent camping in Wisconsin—yes, I’m nuts, but my sleeping bag was rated to 20 degrees and it ONLY got down to 30 degrees, so I was toasty warm! As I sat staring into the fire, mesmerized by the dancing flames, I did not think of “work," could not hear my blackberry buzzing, had no phones to answer, and my mind became filled with the sound of the wind through the leaves—at least those leaves that were still hanging on for dear life—and the smell of the campfire. Nothing better in my book.

What do you do to recharge? What are a few of YOUR favorite things that help take you away from the daunting task of caregiving, and help you to re-center your soul? My favorite things won’t be the same as yours. I can get lost for hours in a bead store, spend days scrapbooking, or happily dive into a good book. What would you do with an afternoon off, a day off, a week off?

Think about that for a few moments. If you had NOTHING you HAD to do for a whole entire day, how would you most want to spend that time? No chores to run, no kids to chauffeur, no spouse to cook for, no clock to punch…what would you do? Then write down the things that come to mind, and make a commitment to doing at least one of those things once a week. That’s all, I’m not asking for you to take a week off (so don’t run and tell your boss that I’m giving you a week’s vacation!); just one simple thing added to your week that can help to recharge your batteries. You will be amazed at the result. When we care for ourselves, we can better care for others, so consider it a selfish request you are fulfilling if you have to.

As long as we are caregivers, we cannot escape compassion fatigue of one degree or another. But we CAN choose how we will cope with it, minimize it, reduce it so that we may stay engaged in our path of caregiving. Take care of yourself. The pets and people depend on it, but most of all, YOU depend on it.

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