Avoid Burnout and Compassion Fatigue by Finding Your Thing.

Serve the public, contribute to the community, progress the department, the fire service is bigger than you, put your people first. But when do you come first?

As your obligations, involvement, and family grow we end up with less and less that is just for us.  We can be busy all day long and still feel like we got nothing done.  But maybe that's because we got nothing done for ourselves.

Todays episode is about finding something that is just for you.  Firefighters are drawn to service at our own expense.  Finding something that you want to do, instead of 'have' to do is vitally important to our mental well being.

I run through some ways to narrow down what might work for you and some guidelines of how to choose something.

For many of us, this is more than just a hobby.  It is a way to avoid burn out and compassion fatigue by giving back to ourselves.  It helps us be more present when we need to be and able to withstand a 30+ year of giving to others.