Sloth.
That, and a very gradual change in how I currently see this blog, and myself.
I’m enjoying my new shooting hobby, but haven’t inflicted the horrific paper-target carnage on you, gentle readers. The tales of tiny holes in paper would cause most to blanch, and I’m not callous enough to inflict those stories on you. (I have had an influence on a colleague or two, and now there are more shooters in my ED than many, I’d wager…) (At least one can repeatedly hit a target 1K yds away. Whee!).
Professionally, I’m on-plane: the learning curve is mostly behind me, and now I’m in ‘practice mode’: do the best I can for each patient, get enjoyment from it whenever it happens. No, my profession isn’t about being entertained, but the job is sometimes more task than enjoyment. (Just like your job).
I’ve been Officially Instructed to stop being cranky at work, so Happy! (or not unhappy!) is the Rule of the Day. I get it, and hope nobody has taken my taciturn manner personally. (If you have, it’s not personal: tell me face to face if I’ve crossed you and I’ll tell you we’re fine, and that it’s me, not you, and mean it).
Current macro medical politics makes me so crazily unhappy I dare not commit my thoughts to blog, so I’m waiting for the right vehicle to which to add my thought(s). So, silence there.
Interestingly, the Readers Digest article (March, 2010) has resulted in more unhinged hate-mail than I’ve gotten in a good while, and I’m intrigued by the black/white should/shouldn’t a few people have about docs and health care professionals in general. The idea that those employed in health care aren’t robots without experience or opinion (let alone judgment) seems too shocking for these naifs. (Those who are shocked! Shocked! are also pretty profane, making the average Borderline Personality look like a piker…). Ahh, well. Such is fame.
And, to the Sloth. I’m not an original writing blogger (a few posts to the contrary); my limited strength typically falls in commenting on others’ ideas, and pointing out strengths and weaknesses. This makes me an unoriginal blogger, which I get. Yet I persevere, or at least don’t quit.
Not ready to quit yet, by a long shot. Blog maturation, or senility? We shall see.
And long may you hit your mark.
I read the RD article and am curious as to why you received hate mail over it. It didn’t seem to me to contain inflammatory statements (then again I am a biased emergency department worker I guess).
I always go back and forth feeling either frustrated for the lack of common sense in everyday decisions regarding people’s arrival at an emergency department or feeling empathetic toward their need for reassurance and teaching.
Ditto what Impacted Nurse said. Take care, GruntDoc.
I, for one, sincerely hope you continue to blog, ‘taciturn manner’ or no. I quite like your no-nonsense-common-sense approach; but this is probably exactly why some hate it. We can’t go having no-nonsense-common-sense these days can we? I mean, it’s such an antiquated, ridiculous notion in the 21st century. And so out of place…even in healthcare… ;)
Wow, I could have written this myself:
…that is if, for me, you count social media as not “quitting.” You’ll have your loyal fan base, regardless what the subject matter, regardless if we disagree. Funny how we’re politically on different sides, yet I want to read more about the shooting hobby. ;)