Work at Work, Be Home at Home
During my internship, I realized that residency is insatiable—there is never and will never be enough time to satisfy its demands. There are always patients to see, labs to check, notes to write, pages to return, articles to read, conferences to attend, presentations to prepare and research to work on. Like a gas, those demands quickly dispense into whatever space it is given. If I brought work home, it quickly filled my evening at the expense of spending time with my wife and kids. So as much as possible, when I left the hospital, I left work behind. Even if it meant staying an extra 30 minutes to catch up on dictations or staying late one night to finish a presentation so I could be home the rest of the week. This way when I was home I wasn’t distracted. This helped show my wife that she was more important to me than being a doctor. After already spending 12 or more hours at work, she knew that once I was home, she didn’t have to compete for my time. The few hours I had at home each day were protected time – time I used to focus on the other priorities in my life. {Medical Marriage Tip #3}
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