When The Job Is Not Mentally Done

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I've got a question for you. Have you ever finished a difficult job at work, moved on to the next one, but found yourself distracted still thinking about what happened in the last one? Perhaps it was an upset patient or an aggressive member of the public, or it could have been a distressing emergency call, radio call, or a conversation that just didn't go that well. Now the job's finished, but somewhere in the back of your mind, you are still carrying it. And when that happens several times throughout a shift, the emotional stress can begin to really start to add up. And today I want to talk about something that many shift workers experience but don't always recognize. And that is the emotional load that we carry from one job to the next. Because it doesn't have to be this way. For far too long, we've accepted fatigue, poor sleep, burnout, and declining health as simply part of working in a 24-7 environment. I don't believe they are. Because healthier people create stronger teams, and stronger teams build better organizations. And it all starts by understanding how to work with your biology and not against it. Let's get into today's episode.

Why Emotional Stress Lingers

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And welcome back to a healthy shift, the shift workers podcast. I'm your host, Roger Sutherland. And today I want to talk about a really important topic. Something that I've not covered before. But what I want to talk about is the emotional stress of shift work and why. And if you work in emergency services or frontline health, nursing, work in a busy emergency department, I'm going to talk about why some experiences stay with us long after we have actually finished dealing with them. Now, after 40 years in policing and 17 years as a police dog handler, 12 years of working in emergency comms, I know what it's like to literally move from one demanding situation and go straight into the next one. I know that finishing a job doesn't always mean that it's mentally done with. Now, this is something that you nurses, paramedics, firefighters, police officers, and emergency dispatchers will all recognize. You might deal with somebody who's frightened, upset, angry, or in distress. You remain professional, you do your job, and then you move on. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the experience has stopped affecting you. And I think that we need to recognize that being good at your job doesn't mean that you're unaffected by what happens during it.

How Small Stressors Accumulate

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Now let's talk about when the small things add up. When we talk about workplace stress and mental health, we often focus on major incidents. And don't get me wrong, understandably so. But what about a series of smaller demands that accumulate throughout an ordinary shift? A difficult conversation, an aggressive patient, a frustrating interaction or a decision that you're not entirely comfortable with. Individually, these experiences might not seem particularly significant, but when they happen repeatedly without much opportunity to recover, they can actually contribute to emotional exhaustion and mental fatigue. Research into occupational stress recognizes the impact of these repeated demands. It's an emotional labor and we get limited recovery opportunities. Now that doesn't mean that every difficult interaction is harmful. But what it does mean is we should pay attention to how those experiences accumulate, particularly in jobs where managing other people's emotions is part of our everyday work. Now I remember clearly when working at communications, taking a phone call that was highly traumatic. And you put the phone down at the end of it, and you're thinking, oh my God, like wow. And as soon as you put it down, bang, the next phone call comes in. And you're on the next call, but you're still thinking about the last one. So you're not really there. And I know that a lot of you will be able to literally relate to this. And then you put it down, and then the next call. Or you walk away and someone talks to you and you're not really with it because you're still dealing with the last two calls, and this adds up, and this creates an emotional stress. Why

Rumination And The Replay Loop

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do we keep replaying these things? Have you ever found yourself replaying conversation over and over again? Wondering whether could I have like handled that differently? Or you know you could have handled it differently. Maybe you might be questioning why on earth did I say that? Why did I make that decision? Or I'm thinking about something that somebody else said. Now, sometimes that's useful. Reflecting on our experiences can help us to learn and improve. We can reflect, look at it, and go, I need to do that better, and this is how I will. Or you can hear somebody else doing it and you learn from that. But sometimes we find ourselves going over the same goddamn situation repeatedly without reaching any new understanding. And researchers often refer to this as remuneration. Remunation. I apologize. Not remuneration, that's not even related, is it? But anyway, see what happens? And while occasional rumination is common, persistent repetitive thinking can also contribute to ongoing distress. And it can actually make it harder for you to mentally recover from work. Because this all adds up. And when this adds up, that stress actually takes the rational thinking part of our brain offline, which makes it harder again. Now, I think this is particularly relevant for people working in caring professions and also in emergency services. Because when your decision affects other people, it's understandable that you sometimes continue to think about it. And often we do.

Creating Micro Pauses Between Jobs

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So we need to create a moment between jobs. We don't have half an hour. And this is something that I've been increasingly interested in, and this is the value of creating micro moments between demanding tasks. Now I'm not suggesting that a nurse working in a busy emergency department or a dispatcher in the middle of pandemonium managing a radio channel or emergency calls can simply walk away, go off into a room and meditate for half an hour when they feel stressed. We need to be realistic about the jobs that people are doing. But when there is a safe opportunity, don't underestimate. Just a brief pause can give you a chance to notice how am I feeling? Perhaps you just finished a difficult phone call. Notice your shoulders tense, jaw, tight. You're feeling frustrated, you're feeling antsy. You want to scream. Instead of immediately pushing those feelings aside, just acknowledge them. You might take a few comfortable breaths and relax your shoulders or simply give yourself a moment before moving on. Do not underestimate the impact that this can have. These small actions, they won't erase a difficult experience, but what they will do is they will bring that prefrontal cortex back online, and it will help you to make far more rational decisions and to rationalize what's actually just occurred. It will also help some people to feel a lot more settled, and this is something that's worth exploring.

Breathwork As A Practical Tool

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And this is where we use breathing as a practical tool. Through my training as a breath work facilitator, I have become extremely interested in how simple breathing exercises may help shift workers to manage stressful moments. Research suggests that slow, comfortable breathing can literally influence a physiological response which is associated with stress to help it to shift and support relaxation. But I want to be careful about what we claim. Breathing exercises don't prevent burnout or remove workplace stress or to replace proper psychological support. And they certainly don't remove an employer's responsibility to manage a workload, staffing, or fatigue. But what breathwork does do is it offers a practical way to support yourself during those brief moments when we have just that micro opportunity to just settle and make the most of that time. Check in with ourselves, ask ourselves, how am I feeling? Breathe. And everything comes back online and you will feel better. And sometimes that's exactly what we need. So

A Simple Check In During Shift

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can you do this for me? During your next shift, I want you to think about something. When you've just dealt with a demanding job, maybe you and your colleague are in the truck together and you're driving along. Perhaps you're replaying what happened and you're feeling frustrated or you notice tension in your body. If you have a safe opportunity, just give yourself a moment to recognize that. Check in with yourself. How am I feeling? How am I sitting? How am I holding myself? What's going through my mind? How am I breathing? Do I feel tense? Am I confused? Am I replaying this in my mind? Now you don't need to force yourself to feel different. And

Getting Support And Not Going Alone

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if an experience continues to trouble you, please don't feel like you have to manage it alone. You can get support from trusted colleagues, supervisors, or qualified professionals. All of those people are extremely important. But check in with yourself and breathe. And you will find that things just change. It's not stopping and checking in with ourselves that is creating the problem. In our next episode, I'm going to explore how even a couple of minutes might help us to manage some of those demanding moments. And I'll also be introducing more about my free two-in, three out breathing resource, which is designed specifically for shift workers. You can check the show notes. If you'll listen to this in the future, check the show notes. You'll probably find that it'll be linked in there. It's called two in three out as a breathing resource.

Share The Message And Final Takeaway

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And if you know someone who regularly moves from one difficult situation to another, can you do me a favor? Please share this episode with them. If someone that you feel could really use it, do so. Because just because the job is finished, yeah, doesn't mean we've stopped carrying it. If today's episode resonated with you, don't let the conversation stop here. Share it with a colleague, a manager, a friend, a leader, or someone who has the opportunity to improve the lives of people working in a 24-7 environment. Because real change starts with awareness. And awareness changes conversations, and conversations change organisations. And organizations change lives. So thank you for spending this time with me. And until next time, I want you to remember this. It doesn't have to be this way. Take care of yourself and take care of each other.