It's all about how you look at it -- perspective

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"A good shift is one you can walk away from without bleeding." So the expression would go from me and my co-workers when we were working on the adolescent ward of a psychiatric hospital. I worked the swing shift (3p-11p) for several years and my co-workers and I would sometimes go out for a beer after work. It was a way for us to blow off steam and unwind after a hectic and sometime chaotic shift with the unruly teens. One of our most common expressions was "If I make it through the shift without bleeding, then it has been a good day." You have to understand that there were days when the patients would get so worked up and out of control that we were having to physically restrain them and do so in such a way as to not injure them even though their goal was to injure us. I can recall times when I had to restrain a patient for up to 2 hours. Fortunately, my co-workers would tag me out to give me a break. It is amazing how much endurance an out of control teen can have. I tell you all this because when we would be sitting at a club, sipping down a beer, we would over hear other patrons talk about how stressful their day was. Deadlines, unhappy customers, non-stop phone calls and interruptions. We would laugh! Granted those things can be stressful but compare that to a chair being thrown across the room at you or your hair being pulled out or your shirt being ripped off. I even had a teen come at me with an axe when I was working in a wilderness camp! We're talking survival and they're talking annoyance.

Another favorite expression I would use when one of the patient got angry and would cuss me out and threaten me and my family was "So I guess I won't be getting a Christmas card from you this year". A bit of sarcasm in my voice. But still it puts things in a little different perspective. I needed that patient to know that all the verbal abuse and threats meant little more to me then not getting a Christmas card. I used to say to my boys, when they would complain about not getting something they want or not getting to do something they want or sustain some small injury; "If that's the worst thing that happens to you today, then it hasn't been that bad of a day".

I live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. I drive a nice truck; have nice clothes and accessories. But I complain about having to sweep the floor or mow the yard. If I would stop and think about those who have far less and suffer many more inconveniences then myself, I might change my attitude a bit. After all it is all about how you look at it. I'm Dad--and I'm just saying.