Here come the nights

I finished my last day shift for this year today. Now I am facing into the long weekend and a much needed break. I am also starting my month of nights on Monday and I am filled with trepidation at the thought. I work in care and nights are a part of the job but it doesn't leave me feeling any more enthusiastic about them. I have done night shifts before, not a full month of them but enough to know I do not fare well on them.

 I am hoping this time around they go a little smoother. Especially as I will be in over Christmas, something which did have me feeling a little sad but I am sure I will get on with it and salvage what is left of the Christmas once I come round from my catch up sleep. 

 I am trying my hardest not to eat too much crap in the run up to nights because I know the exhaustion will get the better of me and I will find it only too easy to be eating all around me and I'd prefer to not be a rounder version of myself when I  come out the other end. I am also brainstorming with myself for possible strategies to keep myself up and going so that I am not just crossing out the half hours as they pass. The house I work in is busier than other places I have done nights and that does come as some small consolation plus I have been offering my secretarial services to staff who are pushed for time and need things typed. I am hoping that the combination of the two should hopefully result in me not falling apart this time around. Going on previous experiences I am concerned about how effective a worker I will be given that my brain turns into mush without sufficient sleep especially as my new found plan to get through nights involves less coffee in the hopes of better sleep the next day. 

 However it could be worse as previously I have done nights where I have had to sit in a living room alone with nothing to do but stay awake or by a hospital bed trying not to make any noise but also stay alert so at least this will be a more active experience. If anyone has some wonderful magic survive the night shift tips then I would more than welcome them because it is fair to say that I will need all the help I can get. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The darker side of romance

Image
  For some reason I felt compelled to write about a corner of my past that hasn't been part of my blog before. a heads up to anyone who might be upset by this topic I will be delving into emotional abuse so feel free to stop reading now if you don't feel able to carry on. When I was in my late 20's I met a guy on a night out. He was a few years younger than me and honestly looking back threw up a couple of red flags early but I didn't trust my own intuition plus I was only a few months away from finishing college and planned to move to Edinburgh in a few months so it wasn't like it was going to be anything more than a brief fling. However as time went on I became more infatuated with him, there was an intensity there and he seemed sweet but damaged. Like a perfect modern fairytale I thought I would be the one to fix him. somehow plans changed and he was going to follow me over to Edinburgh, get a job there and we were going to live happily ever after. at this point
Read more

Help, I think I'm autistic

Image
 So I, at the age of 41, have come to the realization that I am autistic.  Growing up I always had a feeling something about me was a little bit off. I never quite fit in and I wasn't sure why. It was like everyone had been given a book of rules of how to exist in society but no one had thought to hand me a copy. Looking back with hindsight the signs were there. I was a super sensitive kid, a sensitivity I have not lost in adulthood, I cried very easily and felt every emotion very deeply. I was a picky eater and very particular about the textures of different food. I was very sensitive to light and noise and the feel of different fabrics. I was never a hugger. all of these things are as true about me now as they were when I was younger. I am socially awkward, I don't make friends that easily and will joke I am an acquired taste. Eye contact is something I have to actively work on and small talk feels like torture.  I thrive on alone time, I am incredibly sensitive to the moods
Read more

Sometimes I open my mouth and my mother comes out ..

Image
I have been told on more than one occasion that I'm sarcastic. Often that I'm too sarcastic (as though there could be such a thing) and I have retort up my sleeve for such occasions which is if you think I'm sarcastic you should meet my mother. No, really you should because my sarcasm is but a pale imitation of hers. Every so often though I come out without something that makes my friends or other family members pause because sometimes when I open my mouth, my mother comes out.  It's funny how people always take the words you are turning into your mother as such an insult because the reality of the matter is it's a both a good and bad thing. Obviously there are certain qualities I am perfectly happy to emulate and others not so much and on the whole I am not entirely sure how much control I have over it. It's not quite a pick and mix counter here. I think there are some habits you are not even aware you have picked up until someone else kindly points it out.
Read more