Trying to practice what I preach

I'm taking a vacation day from work tomorrow (the 13th) for a mental health day.  Work has been relentless for the past two and a half weeks and I am approaching burn out.  I do love my job but I occasionally have days when I don't feel like getting up and going to work.  I do anyway, because that's what you do.  But this morning was different.  I woke up and realized that I REALLY didn't want to go to work.  I went anyway but made arrangements to have tomorrow off.  I work in the mental health field and am constantly urging my patients to engage in self-nurturing activities and to listen to their bodies and minds to know when to take care of themselves. My co-workers and I often chide each other that we don't practice what we preach but we're all trying to get better.  Work has been so draining and so busy that it's all I can do when I get home to put dinner on the table before collapsing.  We are theorizing that more people are coming through the psych units because of the ongoing stress of the economic crisis.  But since a lot of what I do is to work on stress management with people, that leaves me busy.  I've also seen an upswing in elderly people brought into our geriatric psych unit because they aren't able to care for themselves at home, either physically or financially.  I do comprehensive evaluations to determine level of care for these people so I often get to be the bearer of bad news, telling people that they should no longer drive or that they need to give up their home.  THAT is really emotionally draining, and I feel that I'm taking away their independence- which in a very real way, I am.

Anyway, I'm tired and I'm emotionally at the end of my rope.  Knowing that I'm scheduled to work on Saturday, I knew that I would never make it through 6 days straight and still be therapeutic working with anyone.  So, tomorrow I get a day at home by myself.  Ah, I hear laundry calling my name, and maybe trying a few new recipes I have found recently. At least I won't be at work and I won't have to take on other people's problems.  My own are quite enough.