It's now winter time in the states and it creates the doldrums of the calendar year for many people as the days of snow, ice and cold make you numb.
However, feeling physically numb should not make you mentally numb. The next few months are the perfect time to sit down and pick up the magazines and books you neglected over the spring, summer and fall, and reinvigorate your love and training for the fire service. In many parts of the country, January presents record cold and snow; because of this, outdoor drilling is out of the question no matter how tough your department is. If you're seeking other ways to nourish your mental hunger, or you are just trying to find a way to fight the down swing everyone feels in January and February, pick up one of the many trade magazines or log onto a trade website, and just look around.
One of the great things about this time of year is people are still attempting to keep up on their resolutions from New Years. As firefighters, how many of you have made a resolution to become a better or smarter firefighter? I’m sure many have, but the question is, how many will strive longer than the first month or two of the year to achieve that? Is there an officers promotional exam you have wanted to take, or an engineers exam that would increase responsibilities at the firehouse? Now is the time to start preparing for these exams, or making sure you stay true to your resolution of becoming a better, smarter firefighter.
Many people jump in head first in January, then in February they hit their stride and they are reading and studying whenever the opportunity arises. Then the end of March and beginning of April arrive. The temperatures and weather begins to change, the deep freeze turns into a deep thaw. At this point, many people begin to tire and wear down in their resolutions, either due to fatigue or because downtime is now being consumed with getting stuff done outside. This is the time where we slip into, “I’ll get to it tomorrow, I’ll read twice as many pages tomorrow night.” Which then snowballs into giving up because you have put yourself behind in what you want to study, and you put it on the back burner for next year.
There are several solutions I have found that work to help avoid this happening, many of them practices from my childhood and when I was teaching.
- Slow and steady wins the race - Educating yourself is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Your brain is wired to retain only a certain amount of information over a certain amount of time. While it is admirable for someone to finish a text book in a week and have it heavily notated; take your time with it, a few weeks of reading only a chapter a day or every other day will go a long way in retention, and limiting burnout.
- Make a molehill out of a mountain - We all know that the amount of information to consume is never-ending, from the building blocks of firefighter to the newest studies being released weekly, you have to hash out what are the most important things you feel you need to learn. If you desire to learn about Hazmat Operations, (a task that I yearly want to learn more about, but end up scaring myself), start small. Pick one topic from that whole field and research it, then slowly add another and another. If you plan out a month by month calendar of what topics and where you want to be, you’ll have a better handle on your progress
- Make realistic goals - While we all dream big, many times to achieve that success we need to start small and build up. You can’t be fresh out of probie school and expect to be Chief of Department the following year. Look at the topics you want to learn, and the time you have available to dedicate, and make sure that you can create a timetable that actually works.
While these tips won’t necessarily keep you physically from being cold, hopefully they will mentally stoke the fires. As firefighters, we need to keep mentally sharp and continue to grow in our jobs and increase the passion. Reading and studying in your down time will help you feed that passion and increase your knowledge, making you that better firefighter we all want to be. Efficiency and planning are your best weapons to help assist in achieving your personal resolutions, and beating these wintertime blues.
SEAN WILKINSON is a captain and training officer with the Snyder Fire Department. He has a background in secondary education, and a history degree from the University at Buffalo. He can be reached at [email protected].
