My Healthcare Haikus: A Therapeutic Release of My Burnout

As someone who has worked in healthcare for over 20 years, it has always had its good and bad. There have been stressful times, especially working in the ER or in Neurosurgery, where things could become overwhelming quickly. Over my years of working, I can say that working during the COVID-19 pandemic, dealing with racism, and a contentious Presidential election has been the most stressful of my career. This pandemic impacted every work environment. The stress and anxiety from lockdowns, masks, and vaccinations have created more hostility, more impatience, and more negative encounters I have ever experienced. There were times I woke up and physically and mentally just could not get myself motivated to want to be at work. In the beginning of 2021, I became intentional in journaling and using creative outlets to manage my symptoms of burnout.
A Haiku is a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking natural world images. I chose to write Haikus to make the reader visualize and think about everything described from rude patients to feeling invalidated, to pay cuts, and beyond. Take a brief dive into my thoughts and experience.