Self care during medical training has always been tough for me. I do a great job at taking care of myself in spurts - cooking in bulk because the cafeteria food in the hospital is ironically unhealthy and expensive, exercising consistently. But inevitably, usually in the winter, taking care of myself starts causing burn out. It’s hard to come home after a 12-16 hour day and spend an hour cooking before bed, or forty five minutes exercising. Pretty frequently around the hospital, you may hear me proclaim that I might just “let my body take the L during fellowship.”
I’ve found my workarounds, though- I make taking care of myself as convenient as possible. Last winter, we bought an elliptical which, despite the content of this comic, I actually do use (I get on it when I realize I’m just mucking around on my phone. It was $600, so not cheap and doable for everyone, but I can get on it wearing whatever I have on at the moment and get off it when I please.) I took up jogging because it’s an efficient, fully body form of exercise, and only takes about half an hour. I use my instant pot to make beans, and delegate chopping veggies etc to bae to speed up the cooking process.
What do y’all do to balance a demanding schedule with being good to your body?
Also, my healthcare creative/ entrepreneur of the week is @prettydocscrubcaps! My locs are thick, prone to dryness, and voluminous, so the hospital’s bonnets + standard scrub caps were not really cutting it. She is an anesthesiology resident, and she and her mom, also a healthcare worker, started this venture as a way to help provide more fun scrub caps for everyone, but specifically natural hair! These bonnets are satin lined, they have buttons to hook your mask to, and they’re roomy enough that my hair fits!
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