102 Days into residency and I had to face my first mental battle with being a resident. It happens to everyone to some degree during their residency year. I happened to face a big, scary, ugly monster who asked me,
WHY ARE YOU HERE?!
This battle that I refer to is not one that implies that every resident has mental health issues nor that residency is an unhealthy experience but rather, it’s a experience that can be stressful. A study in the March 2018 issue of American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy reported higher rates of reported depressive symptoms in pharmacy residents than medical residents, and higher than reported rates in the US population. The high demands of pharmacy residency and efforts to maintain a work-life integration lifestyle are contributing factors to these overwhelming statistics.
As I stood in front of the mirror, I challenged myself to identify ways to live and cope with the monster who would be waiting. Below is a list of ways to cope when residency life is feeling like a .
- Take time for yourself. I can entirely relate to the feeling of guilt and anxiety that comes with not dedicating every waking minute to your list. However, I am here to remind you that you will not fall behind, you will feel better and may even be more productive. Block off a chunk of time each day for wellbeing activities. Go to the gym, read a book, play a video game, work on a puzzle, whatever fits your definition of mental wellbeing.
- Talk to someone. We live in a world where electronic communication dominates as the primary means of communication. My suggestion is to pick up the phone and call someone to share how you are feeling. Text, email or any other form of electronic communication denies us a way to connect with the other person. Better idea, meet with someone face-to-face to share what you are going through. In my opinion, the best outcome of this is a friend reaching out for a hug.
Finally, the motivation for writing this post is a reminder that transitional periods in our life are not going to be comfortable. In fact, they may be downright painful. I stumbled on the podcast Optimal Living Daily, episode 1029: A Reason to Feel Less Anxious During Times of Transition by Chloe Kunstler with Tiny Buddha. I encourage everyone to take the 10 minutes to listen to this lesson or read the original post on Tiny Buddha.
"Times of transition are meant to be gooey; we are meant to settle into ambiguity before we are able to achieve clarity."
I hope that if you stumbled on this post you find peace in solidarity, reassurance that there are ways to beat the monster back and that we are growing during this transitional period. If you have other suggestions on how to cope (or how you have coped) with life's transitional periods, please share them below with the NPF community.
Michelle Estevez, PharmD
PGY-1 Pharmacy Resident
Evan Williams, Sarah L. Martin, Alla Fabrikant, Amy Wang Meghan Pojasek. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy March 2018, 75 (5) 292-297; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2146/ajhp161008
Malik J. 1029: A Reason to Feel Less Anxious During Times of Transition by Chloe Kunstler with Tiny Buddha (Anxiety & Optimism). Optimal Living Daily. October 2018. https://oldpodcast.com/1029-a-reason-to-feel-less-anxious-during-times-of-transition-by-chloe-kunstler-with-tiny-buddha-anxiety-optimism/.
Kunstler C. A Reason to Feel Less Anxious During Times of Tiny Buddha. https://tinybuddha.com/blog/a-reason-to-feel-less-anxious-during-times-of-transition/.