A call for coping skills

This is a call out for some coping strategies. There's gotta be someone out there that reads this blog that can give a word or two of advice. How the hell do you deal with the ugly, down-low depressing dirty shit every day? Yes, there are some great days, where you know you've done wonderful things.. it's exhilirating. But it's the bad ones that linger. Leave you with the ominous unsettled feeling.

Spent the other night on the psych ward. (Gotta love the nursing office for floating me there... but that's another story!) They had me running "precautions" on about a dozen patients. By precautions, it means following the patients around to document their location & demeanor q15min. Had one patient wasn't but a kid (well, legal adult, but such a baby!) slit their own throat from ear to chin. Also sliced arms up and down. (Yeah up & down, not side-to-side.) Knew what they were doing.
Looked like Frankenstein with stitches all over. Don't know how the poor thing survived. But that one sunk in... kept seeing images of the kid every time I closed my eyes.

I talked with one nurse a few months back, and she talked about how she leaves her work at work. Said "you can't take it home with you... you just can't". I understand that. But what I don't understand is how you prevent yourself from seeing things that were really not meant to be seen. Some things really unnerve me. And while I get the chills from things like gaping wounds, that's just a fleeting feeling.. some things tear into your core, and you just aren't prepared with where to set them.

I sat and talked with one of the nurses at work, one who I hold in high regard about it. She's competent, caring, and she's got her shit together like nobody's business. I asked her, getting alligatory-eyed, how you do it and if you just get used to it. She said, "I'm not gonna lie to you. You don't ever get used to it. And sometimes, I stop for a beer on the way home."

I know I'm seeing the tip of the iceberg compared to what people in other departments see. I think I understand now why they say so many nurses, doctors, & cops have high drug addiction and alcoholism rates... I don't know how you guys do it, but if you have some secrets, I'd love for you to share them with me.