Monthly Archives

January 2015

Sticking To It

{midweek hike in Malibu Creek State Park}

My “Monday Motivation” consists of posting my continued efforts to maintain my New Year’s goals for 2015. I truly appreciate all of you because you’re part of my support system — you’re helping me hold myself accountable to stick with these goals! I can’t emphasize enough how important self-care is to maintain a sense of well-being, which is the reason my last few posts have been dedicated to the topic. Most of my patients struggle with the same issue, which leads to burnout, increased stress, uncontrolled anxiety, worsened health, and much more. The photos in my post are proof of my activities from last week, and serve as my motivation to continue this week. If you’d like to join me in my efforts to prioritize self-care, would love for you to share how you’ve been doing so thus far!

{Took a REAL lunch break & caught up with celeb gossip and world news}/ {went to two amazing yoga classes, even though I was initially too lazy to go and wanted to back out (pic taken before class)}

{Took a stroll on the beach of Playa Del Rey after my weekend therapy session}

January 27, 2015 11 comments

therapy

Restful Week

written by freudandfashion

Have you ever felt guilty about having an unproductive week? That’s how I initially felt regarding this week, but in retrospect, I believe it was necessary to take it easy.

To be easier on myself (which is difficult for a self-critical person like me), I had to keep in mind two of my goals for 2015 (which I discussed in my previous post):

be mindful
be aware of my need for self-care

I felt ill this week and wanted to sleep most of the days, and therefore, couldn’t complete most of my tasks. However, I needed to listen to my body and its need for rest and recovery, whereas in the past, I’d push myself to go to the gym and stay up late until I completed everything on my to-do list. I also had insightful, yet emotionally-draining group and individual psychotherapy sessions, which resulted in me not wanting to write a blog post due to how much thought and psychological overtones I put into my posts. Yet, this is a pattern that has occurred in the past since I first started blogging in 2010, which resulted in large gaps between posts. I am trying to avoid those large gaps this time around and want to let you all know of the reason I’m late with this weekly posting.

What made me feel better was reading statements such as “it’s okay to not be okay,” which is definitely true, however, society makes you feel as if you have to be running on all cylinders ALL OF THE TIME. Which is fine, as long as you take necessary breaks and don’t wear yourself out. However, we are all human, and I often try to help my patients overcome barriers towards being less judgmental on themselves.

As you can see, I’m trying to take my own advice 🙂

January 18, 2015 7 comments

Personal

Fresh Start

written by freudandfashion

{Napa, California}

I’m excited about the new year, but must admit that I’m in a strange transition phase where my professional identity and personal identity are at odds with one another. Most of my life has been devoted to my education and in many ways I believe those years halted my personal development. When most of my childhood friends were getting married and starting their own families, I spent most of my days studying, memorizing, listening to lectures, getting grilled by senior physicians, studying so that I don’t look like an idiot in front of senior physicians, eating, sleeping (then repeat). My free time was spent either catching up on sleep or celebrating to make up for the fact that I spent several straight weeks studying (I think I’ve used the word “studying” way too many times in this post already).

“I wanted to become a doctor so I could serve others. And because of that I’ve lost everything. But I’ve also gained everything.” ~ ‘Patch Adams’

Being in my mid-30’s, I certainly miss the vibrancy that came effortlessly as an energetic 20-something year old. I recall working a 12 hour overnight shift in the Labor & Delivery unit, then heading straight to the airport (with only 1 hour of sleep) and boarding the plane in my scrubs in order to attend my sister’s graduation that day in San Francisco, then flying back the next morning (in my scrubs) to make it in time for another 12 hour shift. Time flew by way too fast. Before you know it, I’m at it again struggling to get a few days off in order to attend my sister’s wedding. I barely had any time to think…and little time to fully enjoy life outside of school. But that’s the path I chose and I am grateful with no regrets. Now that I have a bit more free time, I am mindful that the more I allow myself to savor the present moments and especially invest in my own self-care, the better a person and physician I become. After all, how can I care for others if I can’t take care of myself? In the past, my new year’s resolutions consisted of external measures such as losing weight, getting high grades/scores on exams, etc. But this year my goals are more internal and self-fulfilling…

My goals for 2015:

be present
be mindful
be open to self-discovery
be aware of my need for self-care.

Thought of the Day: What personal goals would you like to achieve in 2015?

Photos by Marlon Santos

January 8, 2015 11 comments