I’ve talked about the frustrations of being on call before. Death isn’t bound by office hours, and she will not be ignored. This tends to mean that my phone will ring in the middle of the night and I have to answer the call. It’s pretty much the norm for me these days.

More often than not, I’ve had to turn down invites to birthdays, weddings, and numerous other family and friend gatherings due to having to work or being on call. It was wearing me out. For the most part, my friends are pretty understanding and work with me when it comes to my schedule.

I know it frustrates them as well, but they roll with it.

Since my recent bout with burnout, I’ve been trying to effectively balance my work and home life. A few weeks back, I got an invite for my friend’s daughter’s 1st birthday party. It fell on a work day for me and I knew I wasn’t going to make it.

I was talking to a mutual friend about it and she said “This one is important, Shannan. Figure it out.”

This was a hard reality check for me. This was a child I’d never even met, even though I consider her mother an incredibly close friend. She was already completing her first lap around the sun, and I hadn’t even met her.

Needless to say, I was going. I got a call from my office while I was out asking me to come in to which I replied "Can't, I'm on call”. There was another response asking for clarity, and I decided I had given enough of an explanation.

Sometimes, as funeral directors we need to put ourselves on call for the people in our lives. This is a different type of being on call, and quite frankly, the most important one. I put my phone on Do Not Disturb and I enjoyed the people around me. I spent time with the people that mattered the most and it breathed life back into me. I’m going into this week with my cup completely filled, and even though I am tired, it was worth it.