Short and sweet today. Ok, maybe just short.
Sometimes I go to the grocery store and fool myself into thinking I don’t need a cart. I think “I only need like 4 things so I’ll just carry them.” And then I end up getting 12 things and now I’m the distressed lady with the arm full of things and one of them keeps dropping and when I go to pick it up another one falls out of my arms. But I can’t put anything down. Somehow I’ve convinced myself I need all of them. I finally make it to the cash register and swear I’ll never go cart-less again…until I do.
How many of us are experiencing life that resembles my grocery shopping? Your arms are full and you keep dropping things but you can’t seem to stop picking things up. Maybe it’s just me but my hands felt more than full these last few weeks. There is this illusion that you can find the perfect balance and nothing will fall, but in reality there is no way to arrange all the things you have accumulated in your hands that will hold them all.
Today I read a very compelling article by Jessica Hagy addressing work-life balance. It’s an illusion really. The notion that if you put things in just the right spot that you can achieve it. The reality is that there is no balance. Some days you just have to set something down. And only you can decide what you set down. All I ask is that you remember that everyone else is trying to set something down too. You see, what you choose to put down might not be what I choose to put down. And that’s ok.
Gynecology & Theology 
Yes. There are absolutely no days when I’m nailing the doctor thing, the mother thing, the wife thing, the friend thing, the neighbor thing all at 100%. Never ever once has it been a perfect score. If I hit 2/4, honestly it feels like a win. There are some days you can not choose what to put down. Then there are some days you can. I am glad for the most part my world (my family and friends and patients) is forgiving enough to understand that concept.
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So true. And learning that some days you can’t put down the work doesn’t mean you love your kids less or they don’t need you as much. I am more thankful and loving of my family on the longest and hardest days of doctoring.
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