Compassion fatigue

Everything is personal; and however statistically common a diagnosis may be the personal trumps everything else. We are also comparators and all comparisons are with our own recent experiences: my broken finger has greater immediacy and relevance than another’s broken hip the latter’s seriousness notwithstanding.

 

We are human. We are all human together.

 

That I see broken arms and broken hands and broken legs frequently makes them routine. I care and still my caring lacks some element I lost more than a decade ago worn away by routine. I could not do my work well if cared like my novice self. And I do not want to care like my novice self: disease and distress are emotionally and cognitively burdensome.

 

I laugh. I laugh because laughter is healthy; and because it is unusual and because it is sometimes incongruous. I laugh because laughter is contagious; sometimes. And sometimes, laughter is prognostic.

 

I hope the holidays were good; I hope today is better and tomorrow better still.