Over the course of my working years, I have dealt with my stressors - mental and physical - but none of them compared to the stress I would face when I started my job as a police dispatcher. My duties as a police dispatcher include answering 911 calls as well as dispatching officers to incidents all across the valley of Phoenix Arizona. I am currently in training, and I have been working in this profession for six months now. With each new day comes a new challenge and a new stress. You never know what each day holds. One dispatcher is responsible for a whole district of officers and that in itself is a challenge. Along with that comes the priority traffic, such as officers responding to critical incidents like an armed robbery or an officer in pursuit of a suspect. The stress can be extremely overwhelming and really take a toll on your wellbeing. One of the main things I have learned over the past six months is how important it is to take care of yourself both mentally and physically in order to remain successful. .
The first thing that I have learned when it comes to dealing with stress, is that you can't dwell on the past. As a dispatcher each and every day holds something new. I found myself becoming extremely overwhelmed by the volume of radio traffic as well as the seriousness of the situations I was facing. I found that I was sitting so tense at the desk that after eight hours my body was sore from being so uptight. I would leave work and all I could think about was work, then coming in the next day I found myself already stressing out over what had happened the day before. This was really affecting my wellbeing both physically and mentally. I just found myself becoming so drained. I quickly learned that you have to learn to forget about things when you walk out the door at night and be ready for a new day. .
Another great stress relief option for me was heading to the gym after work.