PAX Centurion - January / February 2013

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • January/February 2013 • Page 39 S o, we all know the stress can be an everpresent or frequently occur- ring part of the job. After all, we as a department last year (2011 data) responded to over 108,000 calls and had over 78,000 transports. In some cases you have been assaulted, degraded, injured, taken for granted and ridden hard to either do that “1 extra call or dispatch that pending call off of your screen”. In your career here at BEMS, you will experience more emotional see-saws than most other public safety personnel. That is due to the numbers folks. So we all know what stress is, but how do you deal with it? There are a lot of good ways and the obvious bad ways of dealing with it. What I have found over the years is that there are some common themes. It just depends on what shift you work. Lets face it, we do not have a normal job. The hours, the days off and the trauma that you witness with your eyes and hear with your ears if not dealt with can affect anyone. So, sometimes folks in public safety just do not want to deal with people on their time off. This is not the right thing to do. The world has a lot to offer in your time off. So instead of wondering what you are going to do with your day off, I will be putting together a snapshot list of suggestions that hopefully will appear in subsequent editions of the PAX. Obviously, it will not be an all en-compassing list, just some thoughts and ideas to get you back out into the world and not let life pass you by. The events will be gathered off of sources online. I attempt to be accurate but suggest that for some of the activities that you go online to check availability etc. Safety for some events is totally up to the individual(s) involved. Some events are local and free while others are a drive and cost. The next few months will be a little chilly. I tend to believe that we will not get away as luckily as we did last year but there is still a lot to do. All that it takes is that one needs to step out of the box so to speak and to let the imagination go wild. Have you ever wanted to go snowshoeing?Howabout going and seeingwhat the winter animals are up to?Whether it is something to do with the family, a friend or just a solo learning experience below you will find a few ideas. The idea is to recharge the mind, body and soul so that you can deal more effectively with the calls that you will be asked to do.You need to off load in the proper way the calls that you go on, the horrors that you see and hear. January, February and March Food, Spirits &Music 1. StoweAnnual Winter Carnival – 1/19-27 – Stowe, VT 2. BostonWine Expo – 2/16-17 – Boston, MA 3. TheAnnual Chilly Chili Cook-Off – 3/2 – North Conway, NH 4. Ben & Jerry’s Winter Festival – 3/2 –Waterbury, VT 5. Boston Restaurant Week during March 6. Ice Sculpture and Chocolate Festival – 2/8-14 Other Ideas & Concepts 1. How about putting together a Night of Racing at F1 in Braintree 2. Boston Theatre District has become a center of great shows 3. Have you experience a night at the SkyWalk on top of the Prudential 4. Stargazing from the Museum of Science 5. Skating on Boston Frog Pond Now I realize that some of these events are out of town, this is not to downplay all the great things going on in the city and surrounding com- munities. The winter is a great time to explore and to get outside and go for a ride. So, hopefully this will encourage people to not do that one extra shift and not to sit on the couch with the newest video game for hours on end but to really get on with life and to let go of some of the stressors that come alongwith the thing called life. Sowhen the friends or the significant other asks you; “what do you want to do today” you have got a few ideas. Depending on how this is received, Iwill be putting out other ideas in the upcoming issues, and even if not received well I may be putting out other issues.There is a lot of tweaking todo to it. Suggestions are alwayswelcome. Let us know your favorite place or past time, maybe it will end up here. Serenity now… or not! By Eric McDevitt, C-73