Regardless of our best intentions and awareness, we all take home/life issues to the firehouse. Maybe it’s a financial burden, a relationship conflict, or simply not having enough hours in the day to get done what needs to be accomplished. These things that weigh heavy on our hearts and minds can affect our daily fire/EMS duties and focus. We know this to be true. However, what happens when we bring all our firehouse frustrations home to our families? The stress, anger, distractions, disappointment, heartbreak, etc., can weigh just as heavy on our loved ones and create a wall of friction between us.
At what point does the baggage building up in the corner become an issue? How do we best deal with the accumulating clutter? The easy answer is to talk. Tell your significant other and/or family what is going on. Not that they will have the answers, but they will at least know that you are dealing with something more than who gets to carpool the kids to the next soccer game.
STAY FIRED UP, and talk – before you get buried in the clutter of your own problems.
For more relationship cartoons and advice, make sure you grab a 2020 calendar.
You can find them here:
https://fireengineeringbooks.com/relationships-by-fire-2020-calendar/
