PODCAST SPECIAL EDITION: COPING WITH COVID
Mar 23, 2020Family Docs, Hasn't the World Changed in the last 6 weeks!
Hardly recognizable for many of us!
You are still highly valued and able to provide the best care for your patients.
You may be struggling with:
- Adapting to change
- Managing Phone Consultations with Patients
- Working from Home Efficiently
Coaching with an experienced Family Physician Coach in any area that you are struggling is so valuable
Try it out!
I look forward to working with you
And please enjoy the Podcast episode!
Warmest Regards
Sarah, the Charting Coach
TRANSCRIPT: Welcome to a very special edition of “Remind me why I’m a Family Doc” podcast!
I'm Sarah Smith, Rural Family Doctor and I am also the Charting Coach.
I want to discuss the mental burden of a pandemic
Right now Family doctors are trying to keep ahead of the pandemic.
You are scouring the internet for credible sources of information
You are Evaluating that information
You are Using the information to help them make decisions to best care for their patients
Additionally you may be trying to upskill in areas that you haven’t used for a very long time
You are scared for your family
For your own health
And fearful that despite your best efforts it won’t be enough
In this episode we are going to be talking about mental energy and the feelings that drive productive energy rather than spinning in overwhelm and fear
I want to pause for a moment and acknowledge just how amazing you are
Your patients rely on you for your expertise in this time
You are innovative
You are a leader
Even if reluctantly
Let’s start with Information gathering and learning
What is the feeling that drives this quest for information
Is it anxiety
Take a moment to consider how anxiety feels in your body
Heavy, hurried, nauseated
What are you thinking that is creating that feeling for you
Start to be aware of what that story is that is playing in your head
Thoughts such as “there’s so much to know”, “I can’t figure this out”, ”what am I missing”
These thoughts create anxiety
And anxiety feels terrible in our bodies.
When you are anxious you search frantically for answers
You take a long time to understand what you are reading
You retain very little of the information the first time you read it
You believe anything and everything.
So lets stop and consider something
The world has never had a covid-19 pandemic before
But is has had other pandemics
Other countries have had a few additional weeks to have tried and tested different strategies
Now consider the thought: “I wonder what the experts are saying”
What is the most valuable information here
See what these questions do to your body.
For me, these thoughts make me curious and engaged
I read the information looking for credibility
For anything useful to me in my space in the world
I capture important information and email it to myself
And I get to keep my power and find the most valuable information to you.
As you are reading and learning
Start to be curious about the thoughts you are saying to yourself
And how you are feeling
With the right energy you will be way more effective in the acquisition of useful knowledge
Alright let’s talk about those email inboxes!
So much fun right? Wrong!
I have heard from many of you that your emails inboxes are exploding
You may have also taken on additional roles within leadership in your area
Now there are relevant and irrelevant emails flooding your inbox
You used to pride yourself on an empty inbox every day
But to achieve this would mean sacrificing significant time with your family
Did you know that 250 emails in your inbox if neutral
It’s neither good nor bad.
It’s just math, a number, it cannot hurt you
It is not ruining your life
So Let’s consider the Math problem of 250 emails in your inbox
And what you are making this mean
I can hear your brain adding all the drama!
“I don’t have enough time”, “I’m never going to get all of this done”, “I can’t do this”
This will exhaust you and bring overwhelm
What happens when you open your inbox when you are feeling overwhelmed?
You stare at it
You don’t make decisions
It’s hard to focus
You go looking for cookies, facebook or just break down in floods of tears
It’s not pretty
And what’s even worse is that it is creating the result that you won’t ever get it all done.
So what’s there to do instead.
How do you want o feel when you open that inbox.
For me it’s fast and focused
That is my most productive feeling
So let’s review the facts – 250 emails
I’m going to practice the thought ”I will do what I can in 60 minutes”
The feeling is fast and focused
I set a timer and get to work
Fast and focused
B minus work
No lengthy paragraph replies
Short, concise and to the point
And always with kindness towards yourself
You get to believe you are amazing
Always
Now the result is that I did what I could in 60 minutes
And it’s double the work compared to when I was overwhelmed
Can you imagine?
Getting double the work done?
It feels great!
So now you have 80 emails left
What are you going to make that mean
You get to choose the story you tell yourself about having unfinished emails in your inbox
You can choose to add suffering
Tell yourself a really good story about how inadequate you are
But you know what
I choose to never beat myself up
The world does not hang on an email
If it’s important someone will find you by phone
80 remaining emails is a math problem
Completely neutral
It’s nothing to do with who you are as a person
That’s just the story you are choosing to think
And it’s completely optional.
Isn’t that awesome!!
OK Family Docs
Let’s discuss one more important topic
Sleep
You are an innovator
A pioneer
And you busy yourself with knowledge, learning, planning
Then you start to disregard your boundaries
You stop giving yourself valuable thinking and planning time in the say hours
Using up valuable time learning, conversing on social media
Alternatively you spend the evening trying not to think about it
Couch, TV, Facebook, alcohol
You own special poison
Boundaries such as bedtime get ignored
Then you get into bed and your brain starts to create ideas and plans
Or it spins in overwhelm, anxiety and fear.
Family Docs your mental health is of paramount importance in this pandemic
Good quality rest
Restorative sleep
So start to be curious about what happens at bedtime
When the lights are out
What happens and why
Does your brain get creative
Does it Start to innovate and find ideas
Solutions or new plans
If that’s happening then you need to carve out time in the day or evening to give your brain time to be creative and innovative. No distractions. No facebook.
For you this might be outdoors
Or resting on the couch
Or sitting with pen and paper
Asking yourself powerful questions such as
“What would be the most simple solution”
“If I did know how to do that, what would the answer be”
Try it out
You are designed to be innovative and creative
And for you who are anxious and scared
And the nighttime brings out these fears
What are you truly scared of
Loss of Money
Death of yourself or your family
Illness
Did you know that it’s normal for your brain to want to go to the worst case scenario
It will take any opportunity to come up with disaster
It’s like a sugar rush
It’s addictive
There’s a few things to know about this
First – there are physician coaches who would love to take you through your deepest fears and really explore them with you and help you develop your own strategies against this worst case scenario
Second – Physicians may become depressed or may be having true PTSD from previous similar career events. Please seek professional help. You are worth it. You are valued and You are not Alone.
Third – writing down all your thoughts on paper is a very valuable tool.
Seeing your thoughts in pencil on paper can make them less painful
Sometimes even comical
We call this the thought download
Bringing awareness to the thoughts you are having around the covid pandemic and then starting to question if these thoughts are true and if they are serving you
The important thing to know is there are facts in the world that are out of your control
And there are facts in the world that you have some capacity to influence
Start to notice what is taking your attention
Is it doom and negativity
Is that all you are allowing yourself to see
Can you start to see the human ingenuity?
The kindness
The strength
Start to see your role in the solution
Cast off fear
It’s not helping you reach your destination
The destination of restorative slumber
Bring gratitude
Bring Love
It has been my delight to be in this space with you today
I look forward to chatting with you next time
On “Remind me why I’m a Family Physician Podcast”
And a reminder
If you are looking for a physician coach
To help you with your office efficiency and getting home with your charting done
I would love to help you
xx Sarah, the Charting Coach
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