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President’s Letter

Resilience

ABy John R. Allbert, MD Jonathan Fisher, MD, spoke about the science of positive
bout 10 years ago, a friend asked me to join him for psychology and the science of resiliency. He offered some tools
dinner with Kevin McHale, a former Boston Celtic to help change our perspective from accepting okay lives to
NBA Hall of Fame player and, at the time, general resetting our goal to live flourishing lives. In our pursuit to be great
manager of the Houston Rockets. Kevin told one great clinicians, we can forget to take care of ourselves. Many of us may
refuse to settle for being just average physicians, so why should we
story after another about what it was like to play with Larry Bird, settle for having just an okay life with average relationships with
our spouses, children, parents and friends?
Bill Walton and Nate Archibald. He talked so much that it nearly was
In these times of adversity, instead of having the attitude of,
The common themes the impossible to get a word in. “I just need to get through this,” change your mindset to, “How
physicians discussed were Finally, there was a pause and can I get through this, and be a better person and have a higher
I asked him how he assessed quality of life?”

that they felt a sense of the talent of a college player You can watch the recording of our ZOOM meeting with
purpose, they felt more and if that player had the Drs. Waxman and Fisher at https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/
personal qualities needed share/w8dsL7HV9mdIUpHur3_CRLwbBZzPaaa82idL_
fENyEtEEtTzufwU88RZrm2h-_NN (password: 5r*$B$X#).
connected to their partners to make it in the NBA. He
by working together to replied, “You just can’t do it. Respectfully yours,

It is not possible to determine Have you
renewed your MCMS
come up with solutions, who will succeed in this membership for 2020?
and they felt empowered league. I will tell you this: All
the rookies will get knocked Not a member?
Join or renew membership online at www.meckmed.org.
by their patients’ gratitude. on their ass. It may be in
the preseason or early in the

regular season, but when it

happens, I can look in their eyes and tell if they will make it. There is

either fear or a determination that it will never happen again.”

Unfortunately, we often get knocked on our ass too. Whether it is in

making a diagnosis later than we should have, missing an important

lab result, dealing with a surgical complication or facing a malpractice

lawsuit. Recently, it has been due to the havoc COVID-19 has had on

our practices, not only financially, but also emotionally.

Although we like to think we are special, we can have very

difficult periods in our lives, just like everyone else. I graduated from

medical school 35 years ago. I have seen several good physicians

retire early, or even worse, lose the desire to live thinking they

would never live up to their potential. I also have witnessed a few

physicians whose careers were sidetracked by making a poor

personal decision, developing a substance abuse disorder or failing

to pass their boards the first two or three times. I am inspired most of

all by those individuals who face a challenging time and decide not

to let their problem knock them out of the game. Their story is one

of redemption, and their success should be celebrated.

Recently, MCMS had a video conference during which several

physicians described the difficulties they and their partners faced

during the initial phases of the pandemic, and how they tried to

cope in such an unprecedented time. The common themes the

physicians discussed were that they felt a sense of purpose, they felt

more connected to their partners by working together to come up

with solutions, and they felt empowered by their patients’ gratitude.

Dael Waxman, MD, emphasized the two most common habits of

physicians without burnout are sleeping at least seven hours a day

and frequent outdoor physical activity.

Mecklenburg Medicine • June 2020 | 5