Well, if you've been keeping up with my blog, then you know that things at work have been changing quite a bit, especially these last few months. More changes are happening in my professional life, some by my own hand and some that are out of my control. Just to clarify though, nothing tragic, nothing that can't be handled, nothing that brings about a lot of anxiety, some that are positive changes even.
I've taken those tests before...tests where there is a list of different life events and I'm supposed to put a check mark by each event that has occurred in my life over the past year. Then I count up all the checks and that's supposed to tell me how much stress I have in my life at that moment. Some of the events on that list are negative events (the death of a family member, losing a job, being hospitalized) while others are positive (buying a new home, getting a new job, getting married). However, positive or negative, each event counts the same on your "stress scale".
Now if you are someone who knows me at all, is a friend of mine on facebook or have followed this blog at all, and you don't know that I'm a runner, then well....I'm not really sure what to say, because most people who know me would probably agree that I talk, or blog, or facebook about running much more than they'd like to hear or read. So, I will say nothing more about running in this particular blog entry.
So, what other changes???
Well, first of all I've got a new supervisor. Lauren Yankanin was recently promoted to Communications Center at NRECC. See Lauren, I told you back when I interviewed you that you would move up quickly in seniority ;-) That change came as part of our expansion from the Dublin Communications Center to the Northwest Regional Emergency Communications Center. It was decided that a third supervisor was needed as part of our growth, and Lauren is now that third supervisor. I think she'll do well in the position.
Another change on the professional front. Late last month I was accepted as the newest member of the Mid-Ohio Critical Incident Stress Management team. "The Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team members are a group of volunteers from local agencies across Central Ohio including police officers, dispatchers, clergy, medical & mental health personnel that are on-call 24/7 to assist officers and agencies in need." One of the Dublin Police Sgts. is a long time member of this organization, and I've been interested in getting involved for some time. Our purpose is to be there to help first responders who experience a traumatic event in their lives. The Mid-Ohio team primarily serves agencies in Franklin and surrounding counties of Ohio, but has also been activated to respond to events outside of that area, and even outside of the State of Ohio. Currently I am one of two dispatchers that are part of this team.
One other change is that I will be the alternate union associate at work. Our dispatchers are member of the FOP-OLC. I honestly don't expect that to take up a whole lot of my time (if any of my time) as the main union associate will handle any issues unless she is, for some reason, unavailable. So, kind of like the first runner-up of the Miss America Pageant, I stand ready to fill in should Amy not be able to fulfill her responsibilities. She's been doing it for a while, so I think she's got a handle on things.
Today we found out that one of our co-workers will be out for a couple of weeks for surgery. This will open up quite a bit of overtime, in addition to the overtime that's already posted. I'll try to get as much of the overtime as I can, without burning myself out.
I took two online "stress" or "anxiety" tests. In one I scored a 7 out of 40 (with 40 being the most stressful) and in the other I scored 16 out of 100, so I feel I'm handling my stress/anxiety fairly well. I don't think we can go through life "stress free". But I do feel that how we deal with many situations really is a matter of choice.
I've taken those tests before...tests where there is a list of different life events and I'm supposed to put a check mark by each event that has occurred in my life over the past year. Then I count up all the checks and that's supposed to tell me how much stress I have in my life at that moment. Some of the events on that list are negative events (the death of a family member, losing a job, being hospitalized) while others are positive (buying a new home, getting a new job, getting married). However, positive or negative, each event counts the same on your "stress scale".
Now if you are someone who knows me at all, is a friend of mine on facebook or have followed this blog at all, and you don't know that I'm a runner, then well....I'm not really sure what to say, because most people who know me would probably agree that I talk, or blog, or facebook about running much more than they'd like to hear or read. So, I will say nothing more about running in this particular blog entry.
So, what other changes???
Well, first of all I've got a new supervisor. Lauren Yankanin was recently promoted to Communications Center at NRECC. See Lauren, I told you back when I interviewed you that you would move up quickly in seniority ;-) That change came as part of our expansion from the Dublin Communications Center to the Northwest Regional Emergency Communications Center. It was decided that a third supervisor was needed as part of our growth, and Lauren is now that third supervisor. I think she'll do well in the position.
Another change on the professional front. Late last month I was accepted as the newest member of the Mid-Ohio Critical Incident Stress Management team. "The Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team members are a group of volunteers from local agencies across Central Ohio including police officers, dispatchers, clergy, medical & mental health personnel that are on-call 24/7 to assist officers and agencies in need." One of the Dublin Police Sgts. is a long time member of this organization, and I've been interested in getting involved for some time. Our purpose is to be there to help first responders who experience a traumatic event in their lives. The Mid-Ohio team primarily serves agencies in Franklin and surrounding counties of Ohio, but has also been activated to respond to events outside of that area, and even outside of the State of Ohio. Currently I am one of two dispatchers that are part of this team.
One other change is that I will be the alternate union associate at work. Our dispatchers are member of the FOP-OLC. I honestly don't expect that to take up a whole lot of my time (if any of my time) as the main union associate will handle any issues unless she is, for some reason, unavailable. So, kind of like the first runner-up of the Miss America Pageant, I stand ready to fill in should Amy not be able to fulfill her responsibilities. She's been doing it for a while, so I think she's got a handle on things.
Today we found out that one of our co-workers will be out for a couple of weeks for surgery. This will open up quite a bit of overtime, in addition to the overtime that's already posted. I'll try to get as much of the overtime as I can, without burning myself out.
I took two online "stress" or "anxiety" tests. In one I scored a 7 out of 40 (with 40 being the most stressful) and in the other I scored 16 out of 100, so I feel I'm handling my stress/anxiety fairly well. I don't think we can go through life "stress free". But I do feel that how we deal with many situations really is a matter of choice.
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