6. A good cry: Self-explanatory.
7. Creative expression: Express what’s going on inside on the outside. As Carrie Fisher says, “take your broken heart and turn it into art.”
Brené Brown has an excellent interview with the Nagoski sisters about this book on her podcast “Unlocking Us” which I would highly recommend. I listen to this podcast on the car ride to, and from, my clinic.
Our stressed bodies and minds are evolutionarily designed to seek calorically dense foods. No wonder I crave ice cream and chips at the end of a hard day. What I have learned for myself is that controlling my food environment is crucial to making healthy decisions. I know my brain’s default mode is to go for foods with the highest caloric density with the path of least resistance, so I know I simply can’t keep unhealthy foods in my apartment. A physician I worked with would tell patients that “the devil is in your fridge and your cupboard, and he can't get you if you don't put him there.”
I think we over-complicate healthy eating. You don't have to spend a ton of time researching elaborate fancy recipes to eat healthfully. When I'm feeling tired and uncreative at the grocery store, I follow a simple equation to creating my meal that takes very little cognitive energy to shop for:
[whole grain] + [plant-based protein] + [at least 3 colorful vegetables] + sauce
With just a few items in each of these categories, the combination of meals you can create are endless. If you cook enough for 5 meals, you've made lunch/dinner for most of the work week and you save yourself even more thinking and planning. I generally do 2 preps per week. 2 nights of cooking per week is pretty achievable, even with a busy schedule.
I personally don’t feel comfortable going to gyms right now with COVID rampant in my area, so I have been embracing home workouts. I think that even when COVID (hopefully) passes, getting a strong home workout routine will be great to save on time. On days where I can only muster the energy for a 7-21 minute workout, I use the 7 minute workout challenge app to guide me through some quick high intensity interval training exercises that don’t require equipment. When I’m feeling like I have more time, I do longer home workouts with Kayla Itsine’s app, Sweat. They are great workouts that also don’t require equipment. YouTube has plenty of fun home workouts that don’t require any equipment. Yoga with Adrienne, Blogilates, barre classes from PopSugar Fitness and dance workouts from MadFit are all great (and free).
My residency program is far from home which is really challenging in stressful times. I have a personal rule for myself that I call a family member and a friend at least once a week.
Our residency program has a process group that meets once a month, where we can talk about our challenges and successes together as a class. We also have a wellness committee that runs wellness events once a month. One initiative was to start a group chat with our co-resident groups where we play “wellness bingo.” Every time you do an activity on the board, you cross it out and send the updated board to the group chat. As you can see from the example card below, these are really fun and easy activities to do that serve as a reminder to take care of yourself and do something fun every once in a while. It keeps us closer as a group, and is also a great way to share fun things to do in the community outside the clinic and hospital.
CONTINUED...