My Mid Year Rant 6/21/23 summer solstice.

Everyone is flawed.

I do give a shit about my patients lifestyles.

I pray and don’t pretend I’m not stressed.

I accept what I cannot change and with faith I gain the courage to change things that can be moved.

I can only do “what I can do” but self care comes first for fear that my motivation will extinguish and lead to -FAsT failure.

I accept that I will need to continue studies even at my level of education but I read for pleasure AND professional reasons.

Chasing your calling should be the same as chasing your career…

when there’s a schism, your heart can change to bitter…and as a doctor one can begin to hate going to work; when you lose compassion a healer stops healing.

Regarding how I maintain balance between serving my calling and maintaining my health; I consider myself an athlete and can dial-up motivation by conjuring up high school a college images more than FORTY YEARS AGO. Studying for exams, prepping for track & field season, cutting down for a body building competition, takin a belt test in martial arts, giving a speech to peers….all require focusing resources, cutting down on indulgences, envying others that are having fun while I am in a dungeon of isolation….I got through all that in younger years without blinking an eye so in my mind “I can do that again”.  

BUT

What about my disadvantaged patient in for a consult that doesn’t have a memory to anchor to? -FAsT failure.

What drives most mortals to deploy “healthy lifestyle suffering”? (Lets face it, caloric restriction, exercise, avoiding social media, going to sleep early…all suck!)

-Weddings (if in the party

-Reunions

-Chasing after future mates

-Threat of death

The last point is usually the one that proportionally maintains focused drive the longest. 

-Wedding date accomplishment yields a heavy binge back to prior habits!

-After the reunion trauma from bad adolescent memories…stress eating!

-Winning over the mate leads to indulge together while you both let yourselves go! (Blaming the failing health on aging)

-Threats after your “annual wellness exam” dampens impact since “you 12 months till the doc tests you again” so wait till next week to change habit…(unless the diagnosis given to you is severe and life threatening and doc has you see other 2nd opinions loading up your list of specialists every 2-3 months with “another referal”!)

It is good to test yourselves with new lifestyle changes to try out….but watch out for energy sink holes. You may be investing in something spiritually exhausting. 

Energy required to investigate/deploy/adjust/reinvestigate… is a non renewable resource and if you expend that currency there is higher chance for burn out (me with being an hospital employee). 

Adrenal fatigue enhances -FAsT failure. 

Intentionally allowing FAsT failure looks like this

-ignoring exercise 

-avoiding healthy nutrition for said exercise 

-minimizing restorative sleep for next day exercise 

-not seeking spiritual anchoring to hold you steady during what could be a long implemented lifestyle change.

There are very few free lunches. 

The endpoint to maintaining independence from the hospice nurse wiping your butt and pushing your wheel chair to your favorite morning window vista is usually death. 

NOT INVESTING IN SUSTAINABLE DAILY LIFESTYLE ROUTINES GETS YOU  THAT ENDPOINT FASTER!!!

And don’t talk yourself into saying: “well, if I’m gonna die I may as well live recklessly, intentionally ignoring healthy choices”…

NO! Take that path and your mortality does come faster but pre-death SUFFERING is SEVERE to you and immediate friends and family. 

-Mentally

-Physically 

-Emotionally

-Spiritually

One of my teachers, Andrew Weil taught me to Compress Morbidity. Meaning in lifestyle design physicians are supposed to guide patients to 

-Live Long

-Be Independant

-Die Fast with Minimal Suffering

If you are overly concerned about retiring out of the rat race …find a different race and pour your energy into expressing a newer version of you. 

If the recipe doesn’t taste good…don’t have to start from scratch…just modify a few ingredients till you get it right. And if you can’t find the ingredients..ask a chef to teach you. 

I gave up a huge paycheck to find another way to live with purpose. Now… I don’t see myself retiring anytime soon (malpractice bills for independent doctors is ridiculous) but I love being a “chef” and can do this forever. 

Make your calling the same as your career, trust and have faith that this path is the right one to keep walking …(if you don’t have the “faith” …maybe that’s the first ingredient to change. 

DrRic