4 Tools to Live Your Dream Life as a CAA
Written by Mary Jeanne Roberts, CAA
It’s 0447 and my ears sense the crescendo alarm beginning a room away. A few moments later my brain registers the sound and I jump out of bed. I’m tired, but not angry about it. I happily remember the promise of coffee. While I put in my contacts, I run the same mental calculation I do every morning, “after I do all my ‘jobs’ how much time will be left before I have to leave for work or before the kids wake up?”. Today I have 28 mins, and I am elated. I choose to spend 15 minutes drinking coffee on my deck and then I take a 15 minute walk in my pjs. After I pull on my real clothes, I rush out the house (always 2 minutes late…) and begin my commute to my part time surgery center job. On my drive I listen to a 40 minute meditation and sip the last of my coffee. Today, I get to deliver 11 anesthetics. While my patients sleep, the circulator nurse shares an update from her teenage son’s love life and our beloved scrub tech confides she is getting a divorce. I tell them about an article I am brainstorming, and they help me hone a few ideas. I get home from work just before the school bus arrives at 3:36pm; my three kids are thrilled to see me. Mom-Mode kicks in and I slice strawberries, empty back packs, and break up a few hangry fights. I warm up our delicious veggie loaded dinner prepared by our charismatic personal chef, Robert, and we go around the dinner table asking each other about each of our days. Afterwards, we head to a neighborhood play group organized by my husband. And by “we” I mean my husband takes the kids and I stay home to clean up the kitchen, sort the laundry and go for a long walk. Today, I go without earbuds, which is rarely my first choice but always a good one. Once the kids are home and in bed, I call my mom to check-in. Then I decide to work a little on a blog post. My creativity flows best in the morning, and I can’t seem to find the right words tonight, so I close my computer knowing I can look it over tomorrow on my home day. I crawl into bed, it’s 9:47pm. I take a few deep breaths and fall asleep moments later.
Hey there, my name is Mary Jeanne.
I am a 39-year-old CAA and that folks, is a day in my dream life. My life by design.
Not what you expected?
Exactly what you would want for yourself?
The truth is…it doesn’t make a huge difference.
This is my best life, yours will most certainly look different, but be just as fulfilling.
Five years ago, I realized my career as a CAA was the most powerful tool I had in creating and sustaining my dream life. I harnessed the power of the CAA profession and started to make small shifts toward the life of my dreams.
Here’s How I Did It:
According to renowned American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, humans have a hierarchy of needs. Our most basic needs include food, shelter, and clothing as you well know.
Mcleod, S. (July 26, 2023). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs [Infographic]. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
After those basic needs are satisfied, humans will seek the next rung of foundational needs: Safety and Connection. We are programmed as a species to not rest until we have all these foundational needs met.
Now let’s pause and be real here. This is enough. A life with your basic needs met (and then some) is a life well lived. And this is the level that most people will achieve in their lifetime. It is very rare and a huge privilege to even approach the top two rungs on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Freedom and Self-Actualization.
CAAs have this privilege.
Incredibly for CAAs, inherent within our profession, lie tools that satisfy our foundational needs very early in our careers. Giving CAAs privileged access to pursue the highest rungs of life’s possibilities whenever we decide to harness the power of our profession.
So, what are these tools CAAs have privileged and early access to that allow us to pursue our highest selves?
Read on…
1. Security
Yes, of course, it’s about the money. CAAs start out the jump at nearly $200K, but on a deeper level it’s about the security the money brings. Money allows you to take chances, make mistakes, and breathe easier during rough patches. The salary is a well-earned privilege and an outward sign of a CAA’s value in our capitalistic culture. These are all tools CAAs can leverage to pursue their life by design.
2. Autonomy with a Side of Teamwork
Humans are individualistic but can’t survive alone. Working in the anesthesia care team model means a CAA has a sense of control over their workday and cases, but CAAs also know help is right around the corner if needed. Not to mention the camaraderie that develops when working with others through a difficult case. This push and pull of autonomy and teamwork resources CAAs to find inner strengths but also value the help of others. A huge step along your journey to living your best life.
3. Connection
Connection is a human need. With ample vacation time (new grads start at 6 weeks) and the financial resources to move about the world, CAAs have the privileged ability to keep their familial and friend relationships alive. Plus, the CAA professional community, and on a larger scale the OR community, is usually a tight knit group of like-minded weirdos. You tend to bond.
4. Growth
CAAs develop a growth mindset. Continuing education money along with other monetary incentives to keep honing your craft are built into every contract. From the beginning you are affirmed in your limitless potential to accomplish new and hard things. You are given the confidence and the room to develop your own potential in smaller ways at first, like learning to place a central line. Then you are guided into larger opportunities, like taking leadership roles or transitioning onto the cardiac team. This work eventually lands you in the rare position to use your growth mindset to create a life you could previously only imagine.
Harnessing the power of our profession means using security, autonomy, teamwork, connection, and growth to meet all your foundational human needs. This is what I have done, (and continue to do), and this is what I urge other CAAs to consider for themselves. Thereby ushering all CAAs towards the top of the pyramid and actualizing their whole, worthy, authentic selves.
What are your biggest dreams?
How do you want to feel when you wake up in the morning?
At the end of your life what joys do you want to remember?
Once you know what you are aiming for, you commit to making small shifts over time towards the life of your dreams. I am not here to say it is easy or quick, but it is entirely possible. And it is an incredible privilege if you decide to take it.
…and then, one day, your alarm goes off and you are tired, but not angry about it.
Mary Jeanne, CAA is the host of Awakened Anesthetist podcast. The first and only podcast made by CAAs and for CAAs. She lives her life by design in Kansas City, MO with her husband and 3 kids.