Stress beats me sometimes but mostly because my job is no piece of cake. I deal with situations where people's lives may be irreversibly altered by tragedy. I also manage a group of diverse personalities with a whole set of unique qualities of their own. Doing this while being all too human is a struggle. I mean, my own life challenges can't interrupt my work life because there is just too much to deal with.
So yes, I will take physical exhaustion over being mentally tired any day. It is hard to explain how drained I am emotionally at the end of the day. How sometimes I have to fake a smile and cheerfulness because I am around others. This is something different for me. Remember I have been alone most of my adult life. It's not that I am anti-social it is what I am use to, alone. Dealing by myself is how I got by. Maybe I didn't do it well but I did it. So I fake it until I make it, or until I pass out, or cry.
I don't know that everyone handles emotional stress the same or maybe as poorly as I do. I don't know that everyone handle mental exhaustion the way I do. I honestly do know this, my co-workers and people who work in similar industries agree that being mentally exhausted is an entirely different level of tired from when they are physically tired. One of my co-workers said this to me this morning "It isn't that I don't want to go home and clean the house, it's that I am so emotionally worn out, all I can do is make dinner and get the kids to bed." Yep, that's about how I would express it. I have grand plans on the way to work. On the way home from work I just am happy to make it home without falling asleep.
So, what about you? What's harder for you, Physical or Emotional exhaustion?
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