I can never tell if it's the sickness talking or sense, when I look at resources and think, "This will not help me." My situation is very simple. I'm a doctor who deals with critical illness and death, who treats victims of violence, many of whom die or are permanently and catastrophically disabled. I just finished training, and so averaged 80 hours of work a week, often on 24h shifts, for the better part of a decade. The things that make me burnt out are very obvious, even well-studied! The solutions are clear also: don't work as much, especially overnight, care for your body, get a hobby, maintain your relationships.
Now that I'm finished with training, many things will change for the better. The hours for one (I picked a job without 24h shifts, ever) and the setting will improve: I am going to a wealthy Northern state where there are services and programs, instead of Florida, where there are... not. I'm going to a wealthy academic center with resources and institutional pride instead of neglect. But still some of my patients will die. And will all the rest and the sensible care in the world wash away the injuries of the past? I'm sleeping well, eating well, exercising; I've picked up a hobby; my partner is happy and healthy and our plans for a new life are thoughtful and made with care. Even our cat is cuddly and willing to curl up on me and purr (some studied therapeutic value to purring, the literature says).
I know that I'm doing the right things. Perhaps the only thing I can add is to try to turn my (unfortunately selective and sometimes very narrow-beamed) surgical overconfidence on that conviction, and abide.
Re: treating the moral and physical injuries of late stage capitalism
I can never tell if it's the sickness talking or sense, when I look at resources and think, "This will not help me." My situation is very simple. I'm a doctor who deals with critical illness and death, who treats victims of violence, many of whom die or are permanently and catastrophically disabled. I just finished training, and so averaged 80 hours of work a week, often on 24h shifts, for the better part of a decade. The things that make me burnt out are very obvious, even well-studied! The solutions are clear also: don't work as much, especially overnight, care for your body, get a hobby, maintain your relationships.
Now that I'm finished with training, many things will change for the better. The hours for one (I picked a job without 24h shifts, ever) and the setting will improve: I am going to a wealthy Northern state where there are services and programs, instead of Florida, where there are... not. I'm going to a wealthy academic center with resources and institutional pride instead of neglect. But still some of my patients will die. And will all the rest and the sensible care in the world wash away the injuries of the past? I'm sleeping well, eating well, exercising; I've picked up a hobby; my partner is happy and healthy and our plans for a new life are thoughtful and made with care. Even our cat is cuddly and willing to curl up on me and purr (some studied therapeutic value to purring, the literature says).
I know that I'm doing the right things. Perhaps the only thing I can add is to try to turn my (unfortunately selective and sometimes very narrow-beamed) surgical overconfidence on that conviction, and abide.