Lots of people think that the stress of the Holidays comes from the Christmas rush, or that people stress out from the pressure of the season, like decoration, the Christmas turkey or ham, or picking out the perfect present to make family members happy. For some of us we aren’t so lucky as for our main source of stress to be what goes under the pre lit christmas tres, but a lot of other considerations. But for us physicians, Christmas stress never ends when the clock strikes twelve, and the 26th of December was marked on the calendar. For physicians the holidays last 365 days a year, or really the holiday stress follows us everywhere.
The holidays are about hope and giving life. Physicians like myself make life changing decisions every day, not just for ourselves, but for our patents as well. Physicians are supposed to give hope to their patients that they have the ability to recover. We also make them happy, even if treatment for their diseases is impossible, as long as they know we are doing our ideal in helping them adjust to their illness situation, and eventually help them accept death.
That’s why all the days of the year are like Christmas, and it really does make for a lot of stress on ones person, it’s a major thing when you’re being part of someone’s last breath. It gets really hard some times to be tough in front of someone who is dying, and all that you can really do is be sympathetic, or most of the time just letting them be with family is ideal. That’s what makes my job so stressful. Indeed, Christmas stress is different when you’re in a medical profession, because you cannot get away from it, instead you need to learn to accept it as a normal part of your life. So this year when you’re sitting around the lighted christmas wreath just rest and think it could be worse.