What Job Would You Do For Free?

Burn out is real, especially when you're doing something you don't love. I work with children and around other professionals who work with the same. I have been doing this for over 7 years now that it has become easy to spot which of these people are going to quit in 5 years. It's not easy to be spit on, slapped, pinched, bitten, and punched on an almost daily basis. It requires more than just patience. It demands nothing short of love. Patience could only get you so far. Yes, it could last you 5 years. Maybe 10, but that's a stretch. 

Truth be told, I am not the most patient person. Critical people annoy me, so do people who lack common sense. It's only by God's grace that I've managed to mingle with the rest of the human race this long without gouging my eyes out. But children, they're different. Perhaps it's the idea that they don't know any better that makes it easier to understand their difficult behaviors. 

When I started out, specializing in pediatrics was not in my 10 year plan. Heck, it wasn't in any of my plans. My training was more cardiovascular and neurological in nature. I was used to working with patients who had a stroke, spinal cord injury, or traumatic brain injury. I knew nothing about working with children. I knew the theories, of course, because that's a requirement to get the degree. But it requires a special kind of instinct and skill to work with tiny humans that have not fully developed anatomically, physiologically, mentally, and emotionally. And I didn't think I had what it takes. But here I am, not only working with children but babies as young as 3 months old. Who would've thought? Certainly, not me.

The interesting thing is I don't even have a desire to work with adults anymore. In fact, the thought of working with adults make me cringe. I get asked random questions every now and then by people I know (friends, family, people from church) who have orthopedic problems and I help them out as a courtesy. I still give lectures on conditions that mostly affect adults. But for me to go to an outpatient clinic or a hospital setting and work with people who complain more than they follow your advice? No, thank you. 

So even though working with children with special needs almost inevitably ends up with my arm (or face) getting scratched, my hair being pulled, or my shoes barfed on, I would not trade it for the world. Though it requires me to have a full tank of energy all day everyday, I would continue down this path. Though it breaks my heart to see some of my kids having to deal with things kids their age shouldn't be dealing with or seeing some of them depressed because they couldn't do the things other children could, I will persevere. Because getting paid to do something you would do for free doesn't happen to everyone.

Plus I would not give up the privilege of being the first person to see them walk after they have been confined to a bed or wheelchair in the first two to five years of their lives. Those first steps? Magical. 

Kids just wanna have fun!