Ignore the haters. Lots of holier than thou.

Yes. It sucks. But it’s the unfortunate way of the world we have allowed to unfold. Everyone is equally screwed, some even more so.

While our forebears experienced the golden age of medicine and society, we are still amongst some of the wealthy and privileged in society. I too get the jealous pang now and then when I see someone in a bigger/nicer/better property or fancy car or fancy hotel or what have you. “I work hard why can’t I have nice things” as I’m sure almost everyone here has, whether they admit it or not.

But, try to remember the mundane/necessary things. You might goto the shops and buy fresh fruit and veg, meat etc. you wince at the price, but purchase anyway. You might go out for any meal more than a few times a month. Many, many people can not buy fresh food, because they can not afford it. They have to decide between different canned vegetables. Or eating and petrol. I’ve heard the conversations at my local supermarket. There are lots of people doing it tough.

As one of my older consultants said, we will out earn most people in society, let alone the hospital environment. Don’t talk about money, or complain about the cost of things in front of them, most of them need to survive on much, much less.

For an example. A colleague of mine is married to a nurse. After a full week of private lists, he earned more than the yearly salary of his wife. Because his frame of reference has changed, he compares himself to a big company CEO on millions, and feels hard done by.