Don’t Be a Doctor

We wake up early or work all night long.

We come home late and are too exhausted to cook.

We take extra shifts because we know there are people who need us, or because we need a little more money.

We miss weekend gatherings, holidays, birthdays.

We don’t flinch at your little “boo-boo”; 

we’ve seen much worse on our watch.

We don’t want to talk when we get home. 

We’ve been talking all day.

We don’t want to go out once we’re back; 

we’ve been running all day long.

It may seem like we leave all our care, 

our hearts, and our love at work, 

and then come home empty. 

We probably do.

But we don’t tell you that often, at work, 

we’re steeped in anxiety 

weighed down by our own fears.

Sometimes we’re scared

because we work with lives, 

because we have to handle 

any situation with our best smiles.

You know what? We love the work we do.

So I suspect it’s hard to love a healthcare worker

but here’s what you should know:

We need your love.

We need your understanding.

We need to know that you “get it.”

We need to be cared for once in a while.

We need a shoulder to cry on 

when we can’t even tell you what’s hurting us.

We need someone else to handle the details,

because doing it all ourselves, constantly, 

is exhausting.

We need you to do 

the hardest thing you’ll ever do: 

To love.

fhsp