I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from my recent post about rewriting my personal narrative right now when it comes to how I think about Covid and those who are choosing not to be vaccinated.  With that in mind, I thought I’d share a little more about how powerful this rewriting type of work […]

August 31st was the last day that anyone could work at my hospital without being vaccinated against Covid-19.  Our healthcare system decided that this policy would be the best way to keep our patients and staff safe during the pandemic.  As you might imagine, the policy was not without controversy, and it did lead to

I’ve had several people reach out to me after my last post to ask me how my shifts went now that I’m back to work and Covid is surging.  I’ll be honest.  I’ve had some of the most rewarding shifts of my career over this past week and a half.  By making the choice ahead

The following is a social media post from August 14, 2021. I’m heading back to work tonight as an emergency medicine physician after 3 weeks of vacation. It wasn’t the vacation I had hoped for (we were supposed to be on safari in South Africa), but it was the vacation I needed. I’m going to

Step 5: Process Your Anxiety This is the final installment in my series on how to reduce your anxiety.  Up to this point, I’ve talked about things you can stop doing or possibly start doing to help you feel less anxiety on a day-to-day basis.  This week, however, things are going to be a little

Step 4: Move Your Body In A Loving Way Hopefully after last week’s blog you have a little better idea of what your schedule looks like and you have developed a more realistic plan for how to spend your time and better understand your expectations of yourself.  Take a moment now and look at your

Step 3: Stop Overscheduling Yourself In the first 2 weeks of this series, I gave you two suggestions to help you reduce your anxiety. The first one, trying a news fast, hopefully freed up some time in your schedule so that you could fit in the second one, meditation.  This week, however, we’re going to

Step 2: Try Meditation Last week I started my 5-part series on practical tips you can start today to reduce your overall anxiety.  Did you try a news fast?  If so, did you notice any difference in your overall mental state? I regularly participate in news fasts and I find that during these times I’m

Step 1: Try a News Fast This is the first of a 5-part series covering simple steps you can take today to reduce your overall anxiety.  If you’re anything like me, the last year (I’m writing this in July of 2021) has been anything but peaceful and serene.  I’ve never considered myself an anxious person. 

The other night I spent 2 hours awake in the middle of an anxiety attack worried about my puppy Porter.  He had a little incident at the dog park.  He got scared and he started to growl and snap at the other dogs.  Now intellectually I know that he’s young and, with all of the

I wear a helmet when I ride my horse. Since I’m well beyond the 18-year-old age cutoff that my barn requires, I don’t have to, but, remember, I work in a hospital emergency department.  I’ve seen the results of even minor falls causing serious head injuries.  So I wear my helmet for two reasons: 1.

I feel like I’ve been having the same conversation repeatedly.  It feels like we’re finally nearing the end of the social distancing requirements that were imposed on us all by Covid-19 and now we have a chance to “get back to normal.”   It’s time to go out again.  It’s time to get together again.  Yet

When I first introduce my clients to the concept that it’s their thinking and not their circumstances of their lives that cause their feelings, I often get some pushback.  I don’t blame them.  We’re not taught this.  In fact, we’re taught the opposite.  We’re taught that the people, things, and events around us are what

I’ve already written a lot on this blog about the power of our thinking and the fact that it is our thoughts that fuel our emotional responses and not the people and external circumstances of our lives. One of the most common questions I hear in response to this is “If that’s really true, then

I used to think that I needed to change my life to find happiness.  I was convinced that, if I just accomplished the next thing in my list, I would finally feel better.  So, I diligently worked my way along the path from high school to college to medical school to residency and finally to

I wanted to punch a Pediatric nurse the other day.  Some of you reading this may find that as ridiculous as I now do because anyone who works in a hospital knows that the Peds nurses are the nicest people.  I mean they’re the people who take care of sick kids.  They blow bubbles and

Every meditation I do starts the same.  I sit comfortably, relax the focus of my gaze, and take 4-5 deep breaths before I close my eyes.  What happens after that can depend on the prompts in my meditation app or my self-guided experience for that day, but the beginning never changes.  I do that on

Do you really know how you spend your time?  Most of us have a calendar of some sort, but, if you’re like most people, your calendar contains meetings, work shifts, and other scheduled obligations and then there’s just a bunch of empty space.  In your mind, that empty space is all the time that you

Do you ever feel like you’re downing in “opportunity”?  You’re swimming along and the water just seems to be getting deeper and deeper.  Then, suddenly, the current is pulling you under as you look at your calendar and your to-do list and you realize that there is no way those two things are ever going