Posted by Racer on May 11, 2006, at 21:35:25
In reply to Re: I hear it's pretty hard to get into a hospital » Poet, posted by Dinah on May 11, 2006, at 13:28:20
Dinah, I realize a I've written a long one again, so I came back to make sure you get to this part of my post: I'm so sorry things are rough for you right now. For whatever it's worth, there's a crazy lady in California who cares about you.
I agree with what a lot of others have already said: you are more important than anything you do for your work. And Dinah? Pay close attention to what GG said about not caring in 20 years whether or not you met this deadline. And there's another thing that occurs to me: you can find other jobs (don't start telling me why you can't, at least finish the sentence first), but there is only one Dinah.
And Dinah? Here's some advice for getting through the work you've got, since I strongly suspect you'll try:
1. Do your best not to think about deadlines. Focus instead on the job at hand. Even if it can't be done within that deadline, it will still get done that way. And worrying about deadlines just sucks the energy out of one. At least, it does me.
2. Decide what you'll do, and then break it down to the parts you can do, in the order you'll be doing them. I know, that sounds so silly. But I find the other thing I do when I am feeling so stressed, is to spin around in the middle of the room, thinking, "All these things have to be done, so I'll do this, no I should do that, no -- I will instead have a nervous breakdown." You know? So prioritizing, and in this case maybe even deciding that you're just not going to do some things, before you get started may help make things seem a little more manageable.
3. That whole communication thing came up in our marriage counseling session today, so it's fresh in my mind. You don't have to tell everything to anyone, but telling your work that you don't think you can meet the deadline, but will have it done as soon as you can get it done, would probably ease your anxiety, too. And believe me -- this is from a woman who regularly stayed at work until past 10PM. I know that it's tempting to be SuperWoman, but it's also not worth it. (I have a cat who went feral in a small, one bedroom flat as a result of those hours.)
poster:Racer
thread:642554
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060503/msgs/642837.html