You went to medical school to learn how to take care of other people. But you didn’t learn how to take care of yourself. Because medical training emphasized the opposite. 

You learned how to ignore your own needs for food, water, and rest. All in service to the patients’ needs and the hospital’s/office’s daily tasks. 

It’s just temporary, you told yourself. Everything will be different when I’m out of training and have more control.  I just have to make it through this month, this rotation, this year. But you built a strong habit of not prioritizing or even considering your own needs and took it with you to your “real job”. 

Now, you are a brilliant mind somehow moving through the world. Sure, you must have legs or some other mode of transportation, but not really important. Maybe, you have some arms to examine patients and perform procedures.  And of course, fingers to enter notes and orders into the EMR.

Is this really how you want to live your life? As a disembodied brain? It sounds ridiculous, but many physicians do life this way. The neck down can be largely ignored, except when absolutely necessary. 

But you are more than that. You need physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. Recognizing and addressing your personal needs can improve your overall quality of life, as well as decrease stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout. 

You have a body with physical requirements. It may be annoying. It may be inconvenient at times, but you are NOT a machine, no matter how much it seems like the system is trying to turn you into one.  Don’t let it. Because machines don’t have life satisfaction. Or joy. Or relationships. Or, you know, a life.

Your mind needs more than the intellectual stimulation of work. It needs social interactions, entertainment, connection, and a sense of purpose. 

You must pay attention to those needs if you want to have a sustainable career in medicine. And of course, it’s not just medicine, it’s many other professions and life circumstances (any tired, stressed parents out there?). 

It sounds so simple, but the first step is becoming aware that you have these needs and assessing whether they are being met on a regular basis. Some days are unexpectedly chaotic because life is unpredictable, so it’s not an all-or-nothing assessment. It’s a question to be answered repeatedly, over time.

But a lot of days are made expectedly problematic by the choices we make and the routines or habits we perform without thinking. 

Instead of taking a full inventory of all the things that you need and aren’t getting, it is best to start small. Thinking you must change everything all at once results in overwhelm and inaction. 

Find one simple place to make a change and do it. One thing will lead to the next and eventually, you will see real change. 

To start pick something that is a regular inconvenience. It’s never been big enough to get your full attention, but it drags on your energy in small yet annoying ways.

I had an office chair that I first bought in private practice, right out of training. I’ve had it for 25-plus years. It was pretty and impressive looking, but quite heavy, difficult to adjust, and didn’t roll well. When I was practicing, I didn’t use it that much or for that long at a time, but now that I’m working from home, I use it all the time. And often after using it, my back hurts because the position to the writing table isn’t quite right and I struggle to adjust or move it. Well, I recently bought a new, easily adjustable, lightweight chair for the office. It’s not as fancy, but it’s way more comfortable and maneuverable. 

That was one small step toward taking care of myself. Where can you start to take care of yourself by eliminating a small but annoying situation in your life?

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