Hi everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your placements,
I am blogging this week about being sick whilst on prac (but this could also be generalised to when we start working for real :) )
On my last placement I began to feel sick. I didnt want to miss any days of prac because I felt as though I was going to miss out on something, so I continued to force myself to go. Despite feeling absolutley terrible one day and going home sick I went on with this for about 2 weeks. At this time I was working almost every week night and on weekends at my casual jobs. Eventually I came to the point where i was almost in tears in the morning on my way to prac because I felt so terrible (tired and sick) and i knew I still had the whole day ahead of me. In the 3 rd week of prac I got sent home sick and i went straight to the doctor. It turned out that i had a virus. The Dr advised me to take the rest of the week off prac and work. At first I was worried about missing too many days off prac in fear of failing it and missing out on money at work. But I worked out a compromise with my tutor and supervisor to make up the extra time in the following weeks and knew my health was more important than money After having the week and weekend of sleeping and resting all day, i felt 100% better the week after. I suddenly felt like I was learing so much more and I was enjoying myself whilst on prac because I didnt feel so run down and i was generally alot happier.
From this experience I learnt that Im not actually a machine and I cant keep pushing myself to my limit. I need to cut down on work and extra curricular activities where possible.
Had i taken a day off when i first started feeling ill and not pushed myself too hard with other work i prob wouldnt have had to take so much time off prac later. So i guess what I have learnt from this experience and I hope you all can take away with you from reading about my experience is that despite having alot of pressure to go to prac and perform well, plus the added pressures of working (so we can actaully live!!) and extra curricular activities, we need to listen to our bodies, and have time for ourselves to relax, do nothing and recouperate, especially if you are feeling run down and sick. Where as, before i used to just push myself like I am sure alot of you do too! Slowing down a little but now will save you time in the long run!
Until next time!
Kel
1 comment:
Hi Kel,
I’ve had a similar experience to you in that I was sick during prac and because I had to work so much externally (to pay the rent, eat and drive to prac) I didn’t stop (or even slow down) and ended up much worse. Because I didn’t have any spare business hours, I wasn’t able to get to the Doctor and after the end of the prac when I did see the Doctor, it turned out that I had quite a bad chest infection that ended up needing 2 lots of antibiotics to fix. Even worse than the fact that I probably didn’t learn as much as I could have on prac, I really compromised my health.
I think that your advice to slow down and recuperate if you do get unwell is really important. I’ve also found that getting to bed a bit earlier and making sure I eat really healthy foods has really helped me in staying well despite all the pressures.
Mel
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