Burnout is a Turning Point

I’d heard that the Chinese symbol for crisis means opportunity, however, on investigation it turns out to mean “danger” and a concept akin to “critical point”¹. Winston Churchill said “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”  Rahm Emanuel added to this with “it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Your burnout is a critical point that can push you to make changes in your life so that you can be happier and live better; those you care for and about will also end up happier.

Face it, most people don’t make changes until they feel pain, at which point they may feel they’ve reached a critical point and have a sense of danger.  Now, they become aware that their life really isn’t working out as well as hoped for. You see this with patients; they often have to reach a tipping point, crisis, before they’ll take action in their best interest, the obese or diabetic patient who doesn’t change his eating habits until a heart attack, the person with new diagnosis of osteoporosis who avoided exercise until “newly” warned of the risks of being sedentary.

For many, putting personal and less tangible concerns off is a way of life. Physicians and nurses have been programmed to down play the nagging discontent that leads to burn out. The worn down feeling of when you lack interest and enthusiasm, not only for work, but life beyond work. Your attitude toward patients and their problems may even start to compromise your care and interfere with your sense of self-worth.

Prior to becoming a physician or nurse you learned the value of delayed gratification and the importance of caring for others. These became habits which were reinforced from a young age, through your training and your work.  This other focus almost to the exclusion of self has been hard wired.

You cheat yourself when experiencing your emotions is missing. You may be feeling a bit numb or starved on a personal level and in need of replenishment for your body, psyche and soul. You can get the personal nourishment you need. Your brain is neuroplastic and with intentional active effort you can develop new habits that allow you to enjoy your life and work.

Here are a few ideas for how you can start to nourish yourself:

What do you need on a daily basis to feel at ease, fulfilled or accomplished? Perhaps it is to hug or kiss your children, to have 10 minutes of quiet alone time in your home, to take a walk outside.  Whatever it is if you can identify it for now, and commit to doing it, then you’ll be on your way.  Start small by committing to only 5 minutes for the activity, in this way it is less disruptive and you’ll be more likely to stick with the activity.

Start a patient follow up visits with “What’s gone well since I last saw you?” Through training, residency and practice you developed habits to be on the lookout for what’s wrong, always starting with chief complaint. This in itself leads to a negative focus. With burn out, the problem focus can be a trap which limits your perspective to see a solution.

Reconnect with your purpose for wanting to be a physician or nurse; what was the impact you were hoping to have? Be on the lookout for when this occurs, and how you made it happen.

You don’t have to go it alone, contact me.

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Dina, 203.744.9683

Revitalize Your Life

1. Chinese philologistVictor H. Mair of the University of Pennsylvania states the popular interpretation of wēijī as “danger” plus “opportunity” is a “widespread public misperception” in the English-speaking world.^[8] While wēi (危) does mean “dangerous” or “precarious”, the element jī (机) is highly polysemous. The basic theme common to its meaning is something like “critical point”.
2. Kaizen from the Japanese, meaning to make continuous improvement with small changes on regular basis