As we near the end of 2022, I am reflecting on where I have been the last few years and where I am going. I was listening to a podcast that brought up the concept of radical self-love and exquisite self-care (Unf*ck Your Brain with Kara Loewentheil # 143 if you want to listen!). I 
had to pause it —and really let that sink in. Wow! Wouldn’t that be amazing if each day was filled with a bit of self-love and self-care… And then top it with radical self-love and exquisite self-care! That idea alone seemed extravagant… And I pondered why was that notion so totally foreign? It was a great episode for many reasons… and had me reflect on the last few years, healthcare, and motherhood.
Rewind a few years: there was a pretty low time postpartum after our second kiddo, combined with administrative work stuff and layered with the pandemic… bottom-line: I simply wasn’t taking care of myself mentally, physically, emotionally… I’m not even sure I thought about it from a bird’s eye view. I was just in survival mode; I was treading water (an actual and figurative skill I’m not good at).
I’ll be honest– it was certainly not done with the flip of a switch, but in about a year or so, I made time for regular exercise, started eating better (and drinking less), setting aside time for date-nights with my husband and alone time with our kids. I signed for life coaching, (if I’m honest in the order of these things… this one came first), then got certified to coach, took a peer support training, and did a mindfulness program. I quit an admin job that just wasn’t working for me anymore. I started realigning my values with my internal compass. Maybe that was all a bit radical after all!?!
I’ve decided to continue the adventure, because 2020 was filled with enough self-pity and self-loathing that I’ve filled that bucket for some time. And for many of us, especially in healthcare, the last few years left less than a desirable amount of fun in our lives. In fact, there were many days, I think many of us would have rather hung out in a porta-potty at a county fair.
2023 is the year to continue radical self-love and add a dash of exquisite into self-care… And perhaps really spice it up with adding some damn fun! I’m not sure entirely why but this conjured up the scene from Old School when Will Ferrell goes streaking… I may be alone in the streets thinking “they’re coming”—but I think this time there may be more traction here… and if not, I know I’ll still be having a blast (fortunately for my family and neighbors, this won’t involve me drunkenly jogging down the streets in the nude)!
Ok, enough for the questionable visuals—between county fair porta-potties and streaking through the streets: back to 2023 and reprioritization.
There was a recent AAFP article that used that term and I loved it. “While much of the business world is calling these times “The Great Resignation,” for family physicians “The Great Reprioritization” may be more accurate. There were already plenty of stressors in the profession prior to March 2020, and now two-plus years of the pandemic, economic upheaval, political polarization, and social unrest have provided more reasons for many in health care to step back and reassess their careers, priorities, and aspirations.
“Physicians are like pluripotent stem cells, with many options for career and professional satisfaction. When the trajectory we’re on no longer works for us, or we find ourselves thinking “there must be something more,” coaching is a tool we can use to forge another path — not to abandon our profession, but to refresh its possibilities. The coaching process includes answering critical questions such as “Where have I been?” (insight), “Who am I now?” (information), and “What do I want/where am I going?” (inspiration/illumination).”
https://www.aafp.org/pubs/fpm/issues/2022/0900/professional-coaching.html
Let’s use this time to reassess our careers, priorities, and aspirations. Let’s infuse some radical self-love and exquisite self-care. I think it’s the only way many of us can continue in this field (or any other high-stakes, high-pressure field). We are worthy of self-care and self-love. In a system that will never prioritize it, we must!
So now: 2023 here we come:
Cheers to building on progress from the last two years or recognizing that you can start now….and to creating more a community that values connection, fun and self-care!
