Surprise!
After successfully completing my first half nearly 2 years ago, I’m excited to announce I’ve started training for half number 2!
Motivation for this new journey came from finding the wellness goals my co-interns and I mailed to ourselves at the start of our pediatric residency. This was a project our program director wanted us to try due to the significant amount of burnout resident physicians face during their training, especially in intern year. My plan was simple: eat my veggies, stay in touch with my Momma, and workout. I sincerely believed that I could tackle these goals when I penned them back in June, and I kept up...for the first week of residency. Sadly, I was only consistently meeting one of these goals when I came across this postcard.
That brings us to now--the start of my second journey of 13.1 miles. I am now about two thirds of the way through my intern year, and I really want to take more control of my health. When life is so busy, it is easy to fall into the trap of convenient, fast foods and vegging on the couch at any free moment. While it’s great to unplug and take a breather, these are not the healthiest ways to cope with stress and are directly contrary to the advice I give my patients nearly every day. My plan is to use this training period as an opportunity to put my health first and pursue more appropriate coping mechanisms in an effort to become a better, healthier doctor.
I have a little under eight weeks to train, and I suspect this journey will be a lot more challenging than when I was a medical student with the added responsibilities residency brings, but I am, again, happy to see the growth I will experience as I dust off my running shoes and get back out there!
And I guess I should probably start eating more vegetables since I’m a pediatrician and all...