Papa, There has been a lot of talk about immigrants on the news lately, which has made me start thinking about your story. And I have a lot of questions. Did you ever dare to dream within one generation, you'd move from being a rice paddy farmer to your daughter being a doctor? When you looked through the half built thatched roof next to your paddy, how did you have the audacity to reach so high?
How many of us set goals and resolutions coming at it from the wrong angle? How many of us have stared at ourselves in the mirror, pulled on that pooch and said, "Eww... gross. I'm such a fat slob. I need to work on this"? Who else has lost themselves continuously scrolling and clicking on random things on the internet, to emerge hours later feeling unaccomplished and regret laden for not having gone to the gym instead/read that book you've always wanted to/spend time with your friends and family? We think to ourselves, "Here you go again.. just wasting your life away. Why can't you be better?" We walk away setting goals with the best intentions, but in the process chip away at our self-worth leaving nothing but a self that is broken and beyond repair.
Welcome to semi-retirement After my burnout epiphany, I made the decision to cut back on work at the end of 2017. I knew what I was doing wasn't sustainable, so it was time to take charge. The overachiever that I am, I had it all planned out - I was going to take every other Wednesday off, starting February 14th, Valentine's day. What a great act of self love! I would transition into semi-retirement - down to an average of 40 hours a week from 55-60. It was going to be amazing... in 6 weeks. ...
Today, on this Saturday morning, I drove into the hospital to do one of my favourite parts of my job: Newborn rounds. As I was oohing and aahing at this beautiful new baby's full head of hair, mom smiled at me and asked, "Do you have kids?" "No, not yet," I replied with my usual canned response. "Oh." The dynamic in the room quickly changed.
Most people in their 20's and 30's assume they're going to wake up tomorrow. They believe they'll get to make good on their plans a few weeks, months and even years from now. Death is a thing that happens to old people, therefore, they have plenty of time to worry about that later. Not for me. Death is a constant companion of mine. ...
Everyone has that one friend who's just winning at life. The one who has all their stuff together - the perfect job, the Pinterest worthy home, chairs some impressive committee and yet still finds time to volunteer at the local shelter. They glide through life with ease and grace - no word is ever misspoken, nothing is ever out of place and you're pretty sure they are part of the gorgeous I woke up like this tribe. Recently, I realized I'm that friend for some people. And quite honestly, that horrified me so much I was inspired to drop some knowledge here.
When I started working in primary care, I expected my daily working life to consist of a lot of ear infections and talks about weight loss. What I didn't expect was to be hit by a daily onslaught of depression and anxiety, but after about 2 years in, it's pretty much become routine. However, last year I collided with anxiety in an entirely different form, rooted deeply in a controversial social issue: Black Lives Matter
After I posted my burnout story, I was dumbfounded by how many people reached out to me. People who I hadn't spoken to in years, all of them telling me the same thing: "I'm burned out too. And I thought it was just me. Thank you for sharing your story."
You always remember your first. Your first video game console, first car, first boyfriend/girlfriend. I remember my first real patient as a med student, my first patient in my adult medicine clinic in residency. Today, I remember my first patient in private practice to die on me
Every January, I go through my spending over the previous year to see where my money went using Mint. It just hit me today - since refinancing my student loans in Dec 2015, I have paid off $100,000! It has felt like such a slow and painful process, but finally I'm at a tangible mark - $100,000 certainly feels like a HUGE accomplishment. ...