Author: IM-PCP

Future Me, June 2020

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018. I had just cut back my hours from full time to 90%, and wanted to use my new free time wisely. Some of that time was to relax, but I also wanted to improve my fitness, make my home a more pleasant place to stay, and work on becoming a more well-rounded human being.

My last update was in March of this year, with a few wins, and a bunch of misses. I set new goals, based on my predictions of what life might look like with a pandemic sweeping through.

I had planned to follow up at the end of May. I’m a little late, but rounding things up after 13 weeks of dealing with COVID-19.

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Interview With PracticeBalance

Today my interview over at PracticeBalance is going up. Feel free to go check it out if you want to know more about me and how I try to maintain some balance in my life.

If you have arrived here after reading my interview with Dr. Dawn Baker, welcome to the blog. Most things related to life balance will probably be found in my Future Me posts or Fitness Logs, but maybe you will find something else that piques your interest. Feel free to poke around and drop a note if you want to say hi.

A serene moment, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Newburyport Meadows, Martin Johnson Heade.

What Should You Budget For Intern Year?

It’s June! Many medical students have graduated already, and the rest will be getting their diplomas very soon. Possibly via Zoom this year. What this means is that for the vast majority of new MDs, internship year will start in the next 30 days.

If you are one of those lucky new doctors, you have a lot on your plate: licensure, ACLS, orientation, possibly moving to a new town. Figuring out a reasonable budget should also be on your list of to-dos.

If you are a traditional student who went straight through high school, college, and medical school, this may be the first time you have earned a decent salary that you had to live on.

Though many people pay attention to the big jump in salary that comes with the end of residency and the start of the attending paycheck, you are also enjoying a huge income increase this summer. You are going from no income, or negative income (borrowed money), to a positive income. How you handle this change in fortune can lay the foundation for a financially successful future, or make your finances more difficult once you finally reach the attending stage.

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Victory! Or, On Completing A Huge Challenge

After writing about clearing my bookshelf for nearly a year and a half, last week I emptied it! The thrill is starting to fade, as I deal with the downstream effects, but let me tell you, I mentioned it once an hour the day I accomplished it.

To some of you, this may not seem like a huge accomplishment. I myself thought I could get it done in just 4 months–how deluded I was! I had no idea it would take me another year beyond that to accomplish my goals.

In many ways, achieving this goal was like achieving any other intimidating goal, like paying off a mortgage or student loans. And in other ways, it is very different.

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Interview After Another Money Date

When my father became very ill last spring, I realized that my mom didn’t really know everything she needed to in order to manage the household finances. I couldn’t believe that she didn’t know how to get to all the accounts.

Then I realized that my husband was in the dark about much of our household finances. We had our first money date while on vacation, visiting family, this February.

Now that COVID-19 is going around, I feel a little more urgency to make sure he can really manage if I am unavailable for some reason. We took care of the bills together at the beginning of April and May.

I asked if he would be willing to be interviewed about the process again. We will see if third time is the charm, as far as feeling ready to tackle things on his own. This time I have added my commentary to his answers, the editor’s prerogative.

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