“Madam, you need to take things easy. Your blood pressure is precariously high and your blood sugar is on the higher fringe of normal. It’s a good thing you came when started having that headache, for now you need to rest and stay off the news and social media.” Dr Gloria finished attending to the patient in the emergency room who had driven herself to the hospital on account of a bad headache that hadn’t abated with the strong painkillers she had taken. She was lucky because it was a miracle that with her blood pressure, she didn’t have a stroke.
As the resident emergency room doctor in her hospital which served many large residential estates, Dr Gloria had seen several cases of acute stress in the last week brought on by the political events that were going on. Just three days before, Chief had been rushed in breathless by his son. Even though he was a known hypertensive and had taken his self-care quite seriously in the past, Chief had been skipping medications and sleep because of important strategy meetings that had gone on longer than expected.
His son visited home and having noticed that his breathless father was rushing off for yet another meeting had literally ordered him into the car and driven him straight to the hospital. Chief was in a hypertensive emergency and admitted right there and then.
“See, Daddy if you drop dead now, that your important political meeting and everything thereafter will still go on without you. Your health is non-negotiable so I will be screening all your phone calls and restricting news, information and visitors until you fully recover,” Dr Gloria overhead Chief’s son telling his father and chuckled. This one would surely make her work easier.
On another day she had barely settled into her shift when a young lady was brought in screaming and crying simultaneously by her mother. The story was that she had been in several social media arguments with people that held contrary views and she was determined to win if only they would stop pushing her buttons. The matter had escalated to the point where she hadn’t slept for 24 hours because she felt that her opponents would get superior intelligence to finally win and she wasn’t going to let that happen.
Her mother decided to bring her against her will to the emergency room to avoid a mental health meltdown. She had been sedated and finally slept; Dr Gloria had sent a sick-leave certificate to the lady’s employer through her mother so that she could have enough time to recover and checked on her periodically.
Catching her awake during one of her rounds, Dr Gloria had engaged her in conversation. “How are you doing today, Elise? You have such a beautiful name.”
Elise smiled back in embarrassment as she remembered the state in which she had arrived the hospital. “I’m doing great Dr Gloria, thank you so much for taking care of me. I feel embarrassed but I’m much calmer now and I have had time to think through my actions this past week. I shouldn’t have paid that much attention to all that was going on.”
“I totally understand you”, Dr Gloria replied, and “since you will be going home tomorrow I thought I’d share some tips on how to manage your conversations this season.”
– You are not responsible for, and cannot change anyone’s mind or values no matter how passionately you feel or how disappointed you are. You didn’t raise them, you don’t know the experiences that have shaped their thinking so don’t be responsible for changing their minds.
– You don’t have to match their energy and if they start bullying, stay conscious and keep your own voice calm.
– You can choose to opt out of the conversation if thingsescalate rather than allow yourself break down.
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Like Dr Gloria has counselled above, we are in a season of diverse and passionately held views and opinions and we need to stay aware of how this may affect our wellness. Pay close attention to your lifestyle this season and do all you can to guard your physical and mental wellness.
