Sweet Relaxation

3 Simple things I did for me this weekend:

1.  Sipped refreshing watermelon lemonade on the sunny deck of a cute local cafe (http://lemonadela.com/).

2.  Shopped by the Santa Monica pier and bought the perfect white dress to pair with strands of blue beads (http://zara.com/#/en_GB/woman/collection/4).

3.  Slept in without the annoying buzzing sound of my alarm clock.

I’ve noticed that my weekend getaways back home to LA have become more relaxing (and less tightly packed with scheduled activities) over time.  With work being busy, my sleep has decreased and frequency of tension headaches have been high, but I keep chugging along knowing I’d be able to catch up on sleep once the work week was over.  I’m devoted to work and the quality of care provided for my patients so much that I’m willing to stay late for impromptu family meetings and do last minute check-ins on those struggling the most.  The second most common question I’m asked by patients and staff (after “Are you old enough to be a doctor?”) is “Wow, you’re still here?”  To address the stress and overwhelming feelings that some of my patients experience from devoting nearly 100% of their time towards caring for others is asking them to take time to do something for themselves.  It’s difficult to truthfully take care of  anyone until you take care of yourself first.  What little things have you done for yourself recently that makes you happy?