If ever there were a time for a do-over, it’s now. I mean, every time we think we are coming down the hill, we have to climb the fiery heights of Mount Doom* once again. (*fictional volcano in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth of “The Hobbit”)
Seriously: Mandates, staffing exoduses and omicron. Good grief!
I feel certain someone out there invoked Murphy’s Law and said, “Wow, it can’t get any worse than it is now.” Curse you, imaginary person!
Most people know of Murphy’s (first) law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. But did you know there are more?
Murphy’s Second Law: Nothing is as easy as it looks.
Murphy’s Third Law: Everything takes longer than you think it will.
Murphy’s Fourth Law: If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. OR, if there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.
Murphy’s Fifth Law: If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
Murphy’s Sixth Law: If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
Murphy’s Seventh Law: Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
Murphy’s Eighth Law: If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
Murphy’s Ninth Law: Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
Murphy’s Tenth Law: Mother nature is a bi*ch.
Murphy’s Eleventh Law: It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
Murphy’s Twelfth Law: Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
So, yeah, pretty much all of these are in play now.
But then, unknown to me, there are actually Murphy’s Laws on people. Here are two of them:
A compromise is the art of dividing the cake in such a way that each one thinks he is getting the biggest piece.
A good sport has to lose to prove it.
But I don’t think these exist anymore. I read once that there are two sides to every argument. But no, not anymore. Only one side is right, depending on what side you are on, of course. No more compromise, no more, “Let me look at this from your point of view.” No more good sports!
Yeah, I want a do-over this year. A year where things can go right; a year where we can compromise; a year where things don’t go from bad to worse. I want unicorns, rainbows and singing “Kumbaya” by a fire while making smores.
So please, can we all work together for the greater good, look at our commonality and not our differences? Can we make 2022 an incredible year? And can we please refrain from evoking Murphy’s laws for goodness sakes!
Just keeping it real (optimistic),
Nurse Jackie
The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, Senior Director of Clinical Innovation and Education for Mission Health Communities, LLC and an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real-life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, she also is an accomplished stand-up comedienne. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates.
The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.
