PASSION PROJECT If you’ve found your passion for your work take a hit this year, don’t let it worry you: instead, use it as an opportunity for change and growth
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o-one really expected the global pandemic to last as long as it has. Well over a year on from the first reported case of COVID-19, we are still drowning in the virus’ wake, chewing on terms like “the new normal” which explain away our inability to see friends, family, and loved ones. More than that, the strain on some parts of our society have been horrendous: there was a reason we clapped for NHS workers every Thursday night for two months. Alongside retail workers, people who work in public transport, delivery personnel and many other unseen facets of society, they kept us running when no-one else could. Now, it feels like the end is in sight: as we write this, the first vaccines are being administered to the public outside of trial environments. Margaret Keenan, a 90year old from Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, became the first to receive the Pfizer virus, and hopefully, as you read this, many more will have received it, too. As we glimpse at the light at the end of the tunnel, there’s a lot of feelings to begin processing. For some - not just OTs, but nurses and other healthcare professionals - the past year has been one that weighs heavy on the heart and soul. There was nothing easy in the work that was being done, and some of the experiences being reported by medical staff on the frontline - including but not limited to the issues relating to PPE and the over 600 NHS staff and social care workers who have died from COVID-19 - are harrowing, to say the least.
WHAT MADE ME WANT TO BE AN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST?
For some people, it was a life-altering interaction with an OT who helped them through their own issues with recovering meaningful activities; for others, it is simply a means to help people, and through the provision of assessment and intervention, they take incredible joy. These, and every single reason in-between, are all valid reasons to have found a passion for occupational therapy. Sometimes, when we experience occupational burnout, we find that our connection to the passion that made us want to pursue our career paths in the first place is weakened, or in drastic cases, severed. The thing is, people change, and so do our passions. That is not the death knell for your role as an OT, it simply means that you have an opportunity to find somewhere else to place your passions. If taking time to reflect on what got you to where you are now doesn’t help in rekindling your love affair, it might be worth taking the opportunity to explore other areas of specialisation. This could give you both a break from the area you’ve been in and an excellent chance to rekindle the flames of your passion.
WHO CAN I TALK TO ABOUT THIS?
At this point, if you were to say out loud that the stress, anxiety and weight of expectations that the last year has placed upon you have caused you to lose your passion for your work as an OT, very few people could blame you. What is important, however, is to recognise that it is not gone, it is simply lost, and lost things have a tendency to turn up when we choose to go hunting for them.
Communication is, above all else, the most important tool you have at your disposal when you’re feeling despondent about your work. Sometimes, taking the time to sit down with a trusted member of staff and outlining your feelings can lend you vital insight into your own feelings; sometimes, they can even reassure you. Often we don’t realise how important a cog we are in the engine that is our work, until someone points it out to us. As underwhelming as it seems, having someone point out that you are, in fact, a valued member of staff in your workforce can do wonders to helping you ease the negative emotions you’re feeling towards your work.
With that said, if you do feel like your passion for your chosen profession is waning, or you’re having a crisis of faith in your career, it’s time to take a step back and ask yourself what it was that led you to pick such an incredible, life-changing career in occupational therapy in the first place?
It is also important to ensure you have a good network of people who you can speak to, not only mentors or senior staff. Other OTs, family and friends can offer valuable opinions on how to correct your course. Often, feelings of dismay with our work can be brought on by the feeling of being overwhelmed, and that’s
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