Thursday, March 02, 2006

Work related stress

We have this big conference coming up next month and my job has gotten progressively more stressful this past week. As an implementer (versus a visionary - the only two roles at my company) a lot has fallen on my plate lately. Stuff I don't know about falls out of the visionary's heads and on to my lap, and always due yesterday.

On my way home today, after a particularly annoying day, I started thinking about what life as a nurse would be like. Every job has it stressors, I'm aware of that, but I wonder how they will be different in the healthcare field. I can envision two scenarios.

Maybe the stressors of the job will be less annoying because the job itself is more fulfilling. Maybe it will be easier to deal with stupid things because overall I know I'll be having a positive impact on people's lives, instead of just designing brochures and spam for the world. Or... maybe the stressors will be that much more difficult because they affect people's lives, not just brochures and spam. If a boss makes a stupid decision now it sucks, if a nurse's boss makes one, it could be fatal. Maybe the stress will just be tons worse?

It's kind of scary switching into a field I've never been in. I think I have the professional, Office Space world down pat. I wonder what I'm getting myself into.

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