Re-set

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"I grew from the experience – though I think it aged me 10 years!"

This is how a resident described a turning point with a specific patient when he recognized how burned out he was.

He was able to draw on resilience instead of the negative path that he was on.

Overcoming this challenge mirrored a previous major choice he made in which he diverted from his chosen residency specialty, obtained a graduate degree, and re-started his training in a new residency program.

He described the skills he developed in his previous specialty – the ability to "zoom in" and focus narrowly on specifics – as making him who he was, even as he now recognized that zooming out and seeing the whole patient and their context was more aligned with who he was.

Listener Poet Yvette Perry

Association of American Medical Colleges

April 2021

I keep learning this lesson: moving

forward may require tracking-back,

walking the stone-strewn paths I already

traveled, still burdened with all the

weight of work

When back again at my journey’s start

I zoom out for the aerial view, see

more than one path before me, and now

choose the one with the sign marked

Who I Am

Wielding my tiny flashlight and

wearing a belt of brand new tools,

again I walk–

now with a lighter load,

now on a smoother road:

I changed my mind, I changed my heart, I

re-set my intention

This lesson keeps

teaching me: to

find my way forward

make my way back

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