A while ago, a colleague of mine was on the phone. It was her birthday. Sometimes when you are in a very small space with someone and are not actively working but having your breakfast and browsing through your WhatsApp messages and the person sharing the space with you is unnaturally loud that your i watch complains that you are in a ‘loud environment’ anytime they talk you have no choice but to hear what they are talking about as you cannot simply close your food and leave. There were many consecutive calls that day since it was my colleague’s birthday and most of them were short.
“Hey Thank you..i am at work..nothing nice..same shit, different day..I know..but I have my friends here and we will go out after work so I came here today..yes bye” was repeated quite often and since I was having food some calls had more “shits” involved forcing me to stop eating and leave. Let me tell you a little secret if you want me to leave a place talk with a ton of “shit” and “fuck” and I will leave the place like a lightning. Knowing this and continuing to do this is a direct means of ensuring that I am affected and I leave the place when I do not intend to mostly mid-meal leaving me quite hungry until I get time to eat again. This is one form of workplace trauma. Trauma is oftentimes considered physical. However there are a plethora of ways one individual could get traumatised. And anything inflicting any injury to your physical, mental or emotional well being shall be considered a traumatic event.
There are two things that one can notice from this event one my colleague hates having to come to work and two I am not wanted by her at that place. Now in this situation my colleague has two options one is not putting her in a situation where she is not happy which is not showing up for work and two trying to make this a happier place for her. She goes on and does the second thing which is hurting me, making me leave the place and finds happiness in my pain.
As twisted as it sounds this is what most people do. They don’t choose what is best for them or what makes them happy when it comes to work. They sadly do not have the option of finding a job that fills their heart.
Rumi says “Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart”. Mind you this is nowhere insinuating caste based - hereditary system.On the contrary this refers to finding a work that fills your heart with satisfaction, that is what you are made for. Like I have always said when you do something that fills your heart that is when you can find happiness, perfection and growth in it.
In this era growth is mandatory. You cant stay in the same place where you started. If growing is not something that interests you and your plan on joining the workforce is to make money then there is no reason why you shall not be considered a non- living thing. Growth is the sign of life after all. One might argue that he is growing in a different aspect of his life which inevitably takes up all of his energy and barely leaves him with anything to grow at their workplace. However “where there is a will, there is a way”. You are after-all spending so much time at your workplace and when it’s mandatory to spend so much time at a particular place it should not be that difficult to find an aspect of your work that you love, to learn about, to specialise in, to research on, to grow.
I do not refer to increased salary or a higher designation as growth. They are two of the external features of a particular individual’s growth. Growth that I am referring to is intellectual and emotional. You have to grow as a more skilled, better humane individual in your workplace. That is growth. And if you are not able to achieve that then trust me you are not inspired enough by the job and thats exactly why you refer to it as “shitty” and that my friend is your clear indication to leave. Find something that you love to work on and that shall make your entire being happy and that will reflect in the standard of your job and your workplace.
While I was a post grad I had the opportunity to assist so many Surgeons. There was one particular senior surgeon who did wound closure like meditation. It was such a labour of love, his cleaning a wound and closing it that watching it felt like you were meditating. Till date those are my best assistant surgeon moments. Best learning experiences. Because that is where I learnt the art of loving what I did. He taught me how to love my work and that has made a huge difference in how I handle my patients. Naturally the results are wonderful too. Every time a patient of his turned up for review I could see how heroic he looked in their eyes. That feeling of hero worship stemmed from their deep appreciation for his meticulously designed work that has rendered them with a better outcome from their surgery practically, functionally and aesthetically. You shall not understand how much it means to have a smaller less conspicuous scar after a sudden facial injury. If you ever struggled with pimples and pimple scarring may be you can relate a little to this.
Likewise there are some individuals whom I have looked up to and have immensely liked just because their voice was soothing and they listened to their patients. Now this might sound like discrimination but its an important soft skill. Especially when you are handling someone who is in pain. Pain need not necessarily be physical but can be a minor issue with an expensive equipment they bought which was not working properly causing them mental agony. Only if you love your job can you put your heart when you listen to their issue and provide them with a solution all with a genuinely soothing tone. If you ever were in a casualty or talking to a patient about his impending major surgery you will make a lot of difference if you kept your calm, had a soothing tone and responded to definitely repeated questions in a comforting manner. Trust me if you did you have a patient and his family and friends as your patients for life. The same applies to any person in any profession. If you are always welcoming and receiving your customers shall return to you even if you do not serve what they are looking for sometimes and that is because the world is a cruel place and oftentimes the person’s need to have a personal support overshadows their need for the particular service. This reflects in my work usually as people coming to us for recommendations to go see another specialist for a family member. You shall also receive a wedding invitation or a visit with sweets saying their son recently joined college. Perks of being happy with your work is that the happiness becomes multifold.
Since this years’ Trauma Day theme is prevention and management of workplace injuries I thought I should have a special mention on mental injury at workplace before I moved onto physical injuries.
Physical injury is surely preventable since most of the equipments come with a user manual and technical support that highlights the use of protective gear if you are in a professional environment. Now you only have to follow the rules and meticulously repeat every step every time.
I find peace in washing my hands after every case. However I know people who do not wash their hands even when it is mandatory. After I come in contact with an old case sheet, if I did not wash my hands I might be cross infecting or infecting myself and only I am to be blamed. Similarly there is a set of guidelines to be followed but one of our newly trained nurses always left the scaler tip at the chair and every time I went to that clinic I had it tearing up my skin or clothes. Every single time. We are both to blame. I could have taken one more minute to check since this was a regular habit of hers but no I ended up getting TT shots and lived in the constant fear of harbouring some deadly infection until she finally decided to spare me of the pain.
Any work place comes with traumatic experiences. Physical, mental and emotional.
People who are not happy with themselves are always going to find fault with your life and make you miserable. But you can protect your peace and stay happy by not allowing them to take control over your thoughts. You need not respond to every situation. You can simply watch and let them pass without batting an eye if you think its not worth your time. For that you need to have control over your heart and mind. You meed to be comfortable in your own body and mind. That way any suggestion that does not suit your well being can be monitored from a neutral perspective and you can choose to react, reflect or respond as necessary.
Remember you are not obligated to be good to everyone. From my school days I have seen periods of time when entire class rooms and colleagues have stopped talking to me and refused to be helpful to me. These invariably follow after an achievement of mine. My middle school headmaster told me this “ envy knows no holidays “. It hurts. I cry. But deep down I know I can’t lessen my height to fit in with them. They are passing clouds. If they are pretty we enjoy the season. If not we wait for them to pass.
You are important.You need not seek validation from anyone else its your heart that needs to be happy with your decisions. In order to have a trauma free workplace I urge you to put you into the shoes of all three people from the above narrative. Which suits you the most? Are you the unhappy, worthless person who traumatises people because you are not happy with your work? Please find your happy place to work in. Are you the one who is growing and getting traumatised? My heart goes put to you, stay strong. There is a potential trauma waiting to happen at every turn. You got nowhere to run. All you have is your protective armour and you are all good to grow. Even when you are at the top of your job you shall face some challenges but as long as your armour is strong around your mind and body u got nothing to fear. Are you the one who is a silent inspiration at your job? Hold on to your armour you are needed in this world. Now more than ever. You have found your calling and you are making this world a better place. Salute.
Be the moon. Find your sky. Grow. Become a full moon. Shine bright.Light up the entire worldЁЯМХ.
Written on the occasion on World Trauma Day and Hunter’s Supermoon 2024.
_Dr Thenaruvi ЁЯжЪЁЯдН
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