There’s an old joke about a man in the golf club locker room, hitting his head against the wall. Another man asks him, “Ron, why are you hitting your head against the wall?” And Ron answers, “because it feels so good when I stop.”
I’ve just finished a long, hard summer in the hospital. I can’t really say that I worked as hard as a did as an intern, but my schedule was similar: 4 days off each month. From logging in each morning until I came home and reviewed charts and co-signed notes (assuming they were done), I was consumed with work at least 13 hours a day. Possibly with a few relaxed moments here and there. No more overnight call, thank goodness, but I think I was violating the 80-hour rule. If only attendings had an 80-hour rule.
Suddenly, I’m done. My schedule is dialed back, and today I had my full day of work (which was probably only .75 of a day). I taught, I saw patients, I finished at a reasonable hour. I walked part-way home, had dinner with my husband. We even finished watching a movie (we never watch a movie all the way through anymore; I have the attention span of a gnat). All that done, and it wasn’t even 8 pm.
I have no idea what to do.
For the past three months, there has been no luxury of reading, having the mental energy to tidy, or even, mostly, to write. Hence, very few blog posts.
After 3 months of this busy schedule, I think it will take some time to relax and resume a more normal life. There could be some bumps on the way. We’ll see how it goes.