Uneventful

I have not been nearly as regular with my posts lately as I would like to be. My lack thereof can generally be attributed to the fact that not much interesting has gone on recently. I have worked quite a few shifts this month and have had several in which I have not ran a single call. To some this could be viewed as a good thing. If I am snuggled up, sleeping soundly at quarters, it means my corner of the world is free from mayhem. However, as are most emergency responders, I am a Type A personality and do not do well with prolonged periods of inactivity.
My coworkers applaud my abilities to somehow bend the powers that be into letting us all have a full nights rest. I, on the other hand, am growing bored with it. Call me sadistic. (You certainly would not be the first.) As much as I DON'T wish evil things upon anyone (not even when it may seem well-deserved), my job also revolves around helping people in need and when no one needs help, my 12-hour shift seems like it lasts an eternity.

I hear the term adrenalin junkie thrown around quite often in reference to those in the emergency realm. I am here to defend myself and say that I am a junkie of no sorts. I do not thrive upon the thrill that is lights and sirens and driving fast. Nor do I get off on the suffering of those around me. I am, however, at home amid chaos.
As I have tried to articulate in previous posts, I didn't ask to be who I am today. It somehow found me and it was a good fit. Why? I have no idea. I quit searching for the "why" a long time ago. Yes. I can stand the site of blood and vomit and feces and untold numbers of other bodily substances that I didn't know existed until I became a paramedic. (Granted I sometimes have a hard time getting over the smell of such.) The sight of a grotesquely deformed limb or face does not phase me. And CPR is just another daily affair to me. But being able to cope with something and being called an adrenalin junkie for such are two entirely different animals.
When I started with my current department, there were two other new recruits who came on board with me. I'll never forget when we were responding to one of our first calls and our commander was in the front of the truck discussing vacation plans with another responder. The girl next to me stared at them in awe and then finally said to me, "How can they talk about that on their way to a call?!?"
It is because they are NOT adrenalin junkies. It is because it is another day on the job for them. They are so in tune with what they are doing that they don't crave the rush that comes with it. Albeit they don't mind it. However, in my mind, a junkie has an unfulfilled need and a constant craving for something. Granted, there are those in the emergency response who would fall into the adrenalin junkie catergory. I would be hard pressed to put my coworkers or myself into that catergory.
So, in spite of the fact that I'm getting a little bored with my uneventful shifts, I will take them as they come. I know eventually a day will come that I will wish for an uneventful shift and I will get served just the opposite.