Love What You Do and Do What You Love

[摘要] From the first day of medical school, the faculty preached an ideal concept of “balance.” It was delivered with the sympathetic belief that it would prepare my classmates and me for a field where a large amount of time would be spent working and studying. More importantly, preparing us for a field where suicide rates have been reported to be higher than the general population (1). It was during our first lecture on balance, unbeknownst to me, that we were all being set up for failure. The concept of balancing “work” and “life” was presented to us as an effortless task. Ideally, I should be able to balance the amount of time I spend doing work equally with the amount of time I spend doing something to improve my quality of life. For me, that would entail going for a hike or spending quality time with family and friends. There are two fundamental problems with this concept: first, in practice, it is not that easy; and second, it categorizes “work” to be the opposite of fun. As I graduated from medical school and endured one more speech about balance, I was left with the words, “don’t forget about the things you love to do.” These words, while at the time were considered to be negligible, have impacted my belief system deeply and have helped to shape my concept of balance.

[学科分类] 儿科学

[关键词] work–life balance;balance;burnout;resident burnout;job satisfaction