Can YOU take a break?

Offering someone else the pause they don’t know how to ask for.

The other day I navigated one of the worst complications in one of the patients I was taking care of. I was stressed. Everything ended well, luckily but it all felt quite emotionally charged. I knew I needed a break, even to drink or eat (as it would have been a good 4-5 hrs without any water) but struggled to leave the situation.

Thankfully one of my colleagues recognised the signs (perhaps just by recalling a similar situation she went through) and actively asked me to go for a break and disconnect. So I sat down with a cup of coffee (espresso, please) and thought about how powerful that moment had been. Yet, it was a simple thing and just a few words. But it gave me:

-       Permission to take a break

-       Permission to feel stressed

-       Permission to not have to be a super-vet, without any need for food or water

-       Permission to say, wait a minute, that was a lot!

The HALT campaign is quite popular in the medical world and reminds us that we are actively underperforming when we feel hungry, angry, lonely or tired. And it makes perfect sense.

• What did you wish someone had done for you in moments like that?

• Why do we wait for people to ask for help when they’re drowning?

The invitation

Let’s flip this narrative from today:

• What would it sound like to offer someone 5 minutes?

e.g. “Want to step out for a breath?” or “I’ve got you for 5 if you need a pause.”

• How can we make this a normal, generous thing?

Not everyone knows how to ask for space. I should have known better. Our job is to offer it anyway.