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is my first official day without a Crisis Line shift. After 25 years of pulling shifts, talking to suicidal callers, lonely folks, drunk folks, scared folks, folks who have no idea what planet they're on, I've finally called it a day.
Well, officially I'm on sabbatical, but at the moment I have no intention of going back to it.
I'm sure I'm going to miss it, as quite a few of those years I earned "Ear of the Year" which means I pulled more shift hours than any other volunteer in the program.
Even so, I'm worn out. Being completely accepting, caring and helpful for 4 hours at a time can be stressful, not to mention terrifying when you have someone who has stated his/her intention of taking his or her own life. Once in awhile, with a loaded gun in his hand.
Not to mention the guy who was threatening to blow us all up and seemed to have been in Electronic Ordinance Disposal so had the knowledge to manage it.
So feeling a bit reflective and a bit relieved and hopefully a lot less stressed.
