What aspects of personal wellness do you find most challenging as a first responder?

Question

Thomas O'Connor · Answer

What is the most difficult part of personal wellness for first responders? I think it's actually finding the time to getting out there, getting a sweat on, getting out in nature, kind of getting away from the job. Those are the things that are most important, spending time with your family and friends, doing some positive things, hiking, skiing, just getting out there, away from your daily work efforts, right? So changing it up a little bit and making some time for yourself. And that can include family, friends, but just getting away from it and taking some time and doing some positive stuff. That doesn't always include having a beer, but it may. But also just getting out for a hike and taking care of yourself. And that's pretty difficult with the shift work and all the hours that are spent on the job. Make every effort to find the time, even if it's a couple of hours a week at first, and make it happen.

Patrick Fitzgibbons · Answer

I think as a first responder, we're always, we're very programmed to respond and work on the needs of others. But personal wellness means different things to different people. I look at it, in my opinion, as the mind and body. And it's challenging for a lot of first responders because they're very busy, obviously. They're working variety of shifts, sometimes graveyard shifts, they're trying to balance that and family. So it can be challenging, but I tell everybody I talk to that you need to take time out during the day for yourself. There's nothing wrong with taking me time and being by yourself for a while to decompress. And once you do that, get back to your life. So it can be challenging, but it can be done. There's a lot of first responders out there that manage to have it all because they're able to balance that work-life component. So hope this helps.

Donald Soranno · Answer

What aspects of personal wellness do you find most challenging as a first responder? I would say one thing that I think a lot of first responders have issues with is mindfulness and also admitting that they've got an issue. One thing I like to say, it's okay not to be okay. And I think that's something hard for a lot of first responders to admit is they're not doing well. They've got issues. They've got issues with things going on at work and they don't know how to handle it. And they may turn to alcohol or other devices, but they need a way to be able to release that stress. And I think coming up forward and saying, hey, I want to work on my mind, I want to work on my mental health, I want to work on my body, I think that is something that's hard for a lot of first responders, especially since it's so male dominated that they don't want to show this cushy side of themselves or this emotional side of themselves. But I think it's very important that they do do that, that they realize it is okay. You need to speak to somebody and you need to be able to talk about the issues that you're having, the stuff that you've seen, just to be able to release that valve. Because if you don't, you're like a balloon. And the more you take in, the bigger that balloon is going to get. And the more you take in, it's going to get bigger and bigger. Well, it's going to pop and you need to be able to release it. You need that pressure release valve to be able to let go of a lot of things, talk to people, just let it roll away, roll it off your shoulder. So I think that's one thing that I think is challenging for a lot of first responders is to show that emotional side and talk about the issues that they're having. A lot of things have changed over the years and hopefully more people will see videos like this and realize it's okay.

Dena Ali · Answer

Being flexible, taking time to stretch, knowing what to stretch, how long to stretch, the importance of it, you know, understanding before jumping into my workout that maybe I need to take time to warm up. I have such a bad habit of just jumping in, but you know, I'm 40 now, and just in the last five years, I've really upped my stretching game by doing ROM WOD, and I've had so many injuries over the years that I wish that I had this knowledge and ability, but it's just so hard, and I really think it's hard to know, you know, how long to spend and just how to weigh that out, so definitely just improving our flexibility.

Robert Verhelst · Answer

I think there's two really huge aspects of personal wellness that are challenging for first responders. And I think one is nutrition. When you're at the firehouse, a lot of us eat to, in essence, quell some of the monsters and the demons, but also for, you know, eating a lot of times makes you feel good. And so that's one thing. And then the other thing is just that's really challenging is balancing that home and work life. And I think from a standpoint is that it's going to be a struggle. Some people may not be a struggle, but I think for most people, it'll be a struggle throughout their whole career to find the differences between home and work. And it will change throughout time. It'll change if you have bad calls that you've never had to experience before. So those are the two aspects. And nutrition is a tough one because, you know, you're at the beckon of who's cooking. And a lot of times you need to eat what that is. And that's that. And sometimes you don't get to eat. So I think nutrition and the mental balance between home and work are probably the two most challenging aspects for personal wellness.

Eric McCants · Answer

What aspects of wellness do you find most challenging as a first responder? Physical wellness and then emotional wellness are going to be the ones that are going to be most challenging for me. For me, as far as physical, as far as like the diet of being a law enforcement officer, most times you don't get to sit down and plan your diets. For me, I don't like meal planning. I like my food made fresh and hot. So that's probably a little bit on me. And then emotional is because you go through so many things as a law enforcement officer. One minute you're just sitting in the parking lot taking a call. The next minute you're going to a shots fired or a person that's been killed in a vehicle accident or a murder or something like that. So your emotions are all over the place. And then dealing with the things of law enforcement and having to deal with family bills and stuff. So that can become a lot. So, emotional wellness are some of the things that I find most challenging as being a first responder.

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"What aspects of personal wellness do you find most challenging as a first responder?"