Is anyone else exhausted?

I could blame a couple of things. 1. A puppy who wakes up at 4am and thinks it’s time to get on with the day. 2. Navigating a new job that includes lots of chatting for this introvert. 3. Pandemic, eh? 4. Less day light. 5. Too little coffee. 6. Pressures of the season to get all-the-things done. 7. Any number of other things I’ll think of later that may or may not be actually related.

Life has indeed been pretty tiring lately. Maybe for you too. Today was one of the days the puppy was up at 4am to go outside. I put him back in his kennel with some calming sleepy time music playing (We’ve seriously found that helps.) but to no avail this time. He was alive, awake, alert and enthusiastic. We made it to 5am before we headed to the living room for play time. Overall, he’s a pretty good pup. And he’s darn cute to boot.

My new job is slowly becoming less new. I am mostly done with my orientation and taking on my own caseload of patients and families. My days include a lot of driving, phone calls, and computer charting. I’m also trying to get to know my coworkers – as it’s my job to be a source of support to them too – but golly, that’s not easy in a Microsoft Teams world.

I was talking to Dave about the exhaustion (He’s there too.) and he gave back a phrase I’ve given him many times: small wins. We could maybe call them small joys too. Here’s what I got:

• Two Christmas trees are up and they have lights. That might be as far as we get this year but the lights are lovely.
• A puppy who has now learned to ring the bell to go outside for bathroom breaks.
• A Christmas throw just ready and waiting to be quilted.
• I’m going on a joint visit with a nurse on Monday = a chance to see a coworker in person.
• At least the dog sleeps until 4am instead of, say, 2:30. Perspective, right?
• Christmas shopping (online) for the nieces and nephews.
• To combat the exhaustion, I’m on a kick to walk/jog 50 km by New Year’s day. (It’s catchy if you say it aloud – “50k by New Year’s day.” 12 down, 38 to go.)

Small wins. Small joys. They add up. Fuel to keep going in the midst of exhaustion. Name your own. It might help.