Future MD

Excellent article. I think teaching us healthy coping strategies like compartmentalizing is probably better than this whole “wellness” push. I’m a strong advocate for taking care of yourself, but until residencies stop giving us 120 hours of work to do in 80 hours, we’re always going to feel behind, stressed, and lacking time for ourselves. Don’t send us to do yoga for an hour. Teach us how to deal with what we’re facing.

Read this article yesterday and have been debating it with lots of people. The range of reactions has been astounding, from confusion to agreement to anger to denial. That said, this piece resonated with me because I have had days like this, and I think most of us have. But when will medicine give its residents to not be okay, to give permission to seeking help without censure? If we can work on that first before giving out massages and ice cream, we will be actually addressing the core stressors and struggles that come with residency instead of trying to pretend that medicine is “just like any profession.” It’s not.

My program has “wellness lecture” every month and it always infuriates me. If you want to promote my wellness why not let me go home to my family or get my teeth cleaned or my hair cut since a lot of those services are only open when I am at work. Playing kickball with people I see more than my husband or making a self care worksheet helps nothing. I know what I need to take care of myself. I exist in a system that prohibits me from obtaining those things and then blames me for not taking care of myself. Fuck. You.

Now I question all the things I used to stand by for.

everything

sorry I wasn’t in the mood to be a person today, sorry I forgot to keep a conversation, sorry my soul needs ironing. give me a moment, a day or a so. it’ll be good. I’ll brush my hair and change my clothes. I’ll laugh a lot. I’ll say important things. it’ll be good.