Like most of my doctor friends, I complain a lot about long work hours. But secretly I take quite a bit of comfort in being overworked. Even as residents, while we griped and moaned our way through stretches of being on-call every second night, we knew the whole thing was an initiation ritual that would make us strong and inspire group loyalty. While it reinforced our fear of free time, of drifting, working like this also gave us an incredible sense of purpose. Out in the real world, we continue to normalize overwork for reasons of debt or dedication.
People settle into patterns.
But, after a while, when priorities in our lives shift, what was once a pretty good coping strategy can become a bit dysfunctional. In the course of the following few weeks, I slowly began to relearn the art of not working so much. I started going for morning walks with my wife. I began to show up for school concerts and parent-teacher days. I read my first novel in more than a year.