Social And Work Life Balance For Doctors: When Saying NO is not an Option Relax a little, doctors!
By Nipun Goyal
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Being a doctor is a lot like living with an unruly child. They take up your entire time, leave you with little energy for anything else, you can't leave or abandon them because, well, you can't, it's morally incorrect and at the end of the day your house is a mess. Similarly, your medical profession takes the best of you. It takes up your entire day, leaves you tired, you can't say no to any patient or abandon them because it's ethically wrong and it leaves your personal as well as social life in a mess. But, just like a child's behaviour can be managed with behaviour management techniques, similarly you can achieve a social and work life balance by managing your practice.
Work in association
Instead of running a one man show, have colleagues to share your burden. You can't be at all places at the same time and it never hurts to have some help.
Don't try to be a superhero
It's ok to take off once in awhile and fallback upon your teammates so that you can have some time off for yourself and your family. No one is a superhuman and it's alright to take a break. Have a romantic evening with your spouse, take your kid off to the nearest playground or have some ME time!
Take up a hobby
Write poetry like you did in college, dunk a basketball or learn to play a new instrument. Anything to refresh you. There is no greater stress reliever than taking up a hobby.
Get in touch with your old friends
After hanging around with clinicians all day, give yourself a little treat, call that friend from school who you were meaning to meet but couldn't. Don't limit your social life to your professional circle. There are people you knew before you became a doctor, meet them!
Don't shy away from asking for help
Not all cases are a plain sailing, some are a tough nut to crack which can't be tackled alone. On the bright side, the problem you are experiencing today, someone must have faced it before. And there lies your solution! Tap into the experience of other doctors to solve your cases more efficiently and accurately.
So next time when the child gets unruly or throws a tantrum, tackle when you can but sometimes let your partner or the caretaker handle it, and when it gets out of hand take a few lessons from your experienced colleagues , they've been around long and probably know things you don't.
Also, when you take a break to rejuvenate yourself, there is more energy and enthusiasm to return back to work.
