Lately, it seems, in my routine calls with owners and leaders in O&P, the conversations come around to questioning their role in O&P patient care. More often than not, the word I hear is “tired.” People will tell me that they are finding less joy in their work. I get it. I vividly remember, early in my days of O&P, standing in Kathy Dodson’s doorway at AOPA telling her about my plans for dealing with CMS and how we were going to change the world! She looked at me with a wry smile and said she remembered feeling the same way when she first got started in government affairs for AOPA. She said she admired my confidence but warned me that CMS is a machine “designed to wear you down.”  It will tire you out. 

I don’t question the overall commitment to patient care, I know how most of the people I talk to feel about the care they provide.  At the same time, the systems in which we work can make the provision of and payment for the care provided a difficult task, at best. Sometimes it seems like the system is designed to counter every move. Just when you think you’ve figured something out, they change the game on you.  They wear you down.  We get tired after a good game of tennis, or working in the garden, or pulling sockets all day.  Tiredness describes a physical state of depletion. We can recover from being tired by getting rest, or a good meal, or both! 

But weariness? That’s another story.  Weariness describes an emotional depletion. Food, water, and rest will do nothing to moderate weariness.  Weariness comes from feeling helpless, and sometimes hopeless.  This is not something to ignore but the cure is not simple.  Weariness starts to raise its head when we start to question whether the reward is worth the work.  So where is your joy?  The restoration of your passion for the job is the only way to overcome weariness. Can you still find joy in the work you do?  Maybe you need to focus more on the things that matter?  Sometimes we feel like we have to do more to stay successful, but what is success?  Driving yourself to the point that you are a shell of your former self? Or focusing on the thing that excites you?  If you are feeling weary, maybe it is time to make some significant decisions.  Have you become entangled in something over which you have no control?  This can happen as your business takes on a life of its own.   

Having a true mission and vision for the business that is aligned with your personal mission is critical to your emotional energy and well-being.  The work you do is incredibly special and the difference you make in people’s lives is absolutely amazing.  If you are feeling weary, I hope you can rekindle the joy that brought you into this incredible profession.