End Professional Burnout: Become More Energized and Less Stressed | Liz Aguirre | TEDxManitouSprings

[Music] when I graduated from medical school in 2006 I took the Hippocratic Oath which included an oath to do no harm after over 10 years of practice I had to confess that I have broken that oath hundreds if not thousands of times I broke that oath by hurting myself I thought I was doing the right thing after all becoming a doctor meant working long hours going 24 hours or more without sleep was an expectation at times drinking an entire pot of coffee was pretty standard for me okay maybe two actually I have to be brutally honest that I have in fact drank three pots of coffee on numerous occasions and despite that hyper-capinated state I've also fallen asleep standing up when I got home the insomnia would hit the next morning I was too tired to eat and I went straight for the coffee pot once again I often went 16 to 18 hours with no food of course now I know that's called intermittent fasting so maybe that wasn't so bad after all I'm also embarrassed to admit that when I was in my hangry sleep deprived States I wasn't the nicest person I took it out on the nurses that I worked with but it wasn't just the nurses I took it out on my family and friends as well by the time we reached the point of neglecting sleep which is one of the most basic human needs we have done a whole lot of harm to ourselves leading up to that point those closest to us try to tell us but we don't listen anytime my husband tried to point out my need to take a break it always led to a sarcastic rhetorical question with what time lack of sleep and working long hours are examples of how self-neglect shows up in our lives this leads to frustration overwhelm and eventually burnouts but the question is why do we neglect ourselves more importantly why are we trying to pretend that everything is okay before we can create change we have to understand why this is happening in the first place it took me a long time to figure out the answer to this question but it's finally crystal clear the answer is fear in order to change the culture of self-neglect we must face our fear and make a conscious decision to prioritize ourselves I thought working harder was the only way to succeed it's what I did to prove myself to prove my worth to prove that I deserve to be in the room I challenged my body to its limits time and time again and eventually my body stopped accepting the challenge I developed unbearable migraines I couldn't focus and I was snapping at my beautiful children I became a version of myself that I didn't even recognize pushing our limits can be a good thing and it's necessary for growth but not when it's at the expense of our very precious human life the truth is beer was driving my decisions without me even realizing it and this is the case for so many people throughout my medical school training I was afraid that my classmates would figure out that I wasn't really one of them I was a small town girl who grew up in extreme poverty I spent years with no running water or electricity and I spent a lot of time and energy trying to hide that most people didn't know that I dug out of a dumpster for food but that was my reality between the ages of 10 and 13 yes 10. dumpster day was a regular part of my life and it was a happy day because this was the day of the week that I got a gourmet meal when scraps of meat were tossed into the trash but one night as I was running home with my big black trash bag that happiness disappeared I heard screeching tires and saw police lights come on behind me I was so scared I didn't think it was a crime to dig out of dumpsters but for whatever reason in that moment my mind thought it was I dropped my bag and I ran as fast as I could into a field of tall wings I'll never forget the feeling of those sweets slapping my face where how they felt poking into my body as I dropped to the ground trying to stay as still as possible all the while my body was shaking uncontrollably the police officer got out of his car and after searching for what felt like an eternity he left but I remained paralyzed as I laid there with tears running down my face it was in that moment that I made up my mind that I would never live in poverty again sometime later I heard my mom calling my voice but I still couldn't move it was only after I heard the Panic rising in her voice that I finally found the strength to get up but I made it just blur enough to collapse in her arms all of us carry dramatic and sometimes traumatic stories we carry guilt and regret that lives under the surface of our conscious minds and drives our actions the night I made that promise to myself is the night that myself neglect began for my young mind the only solution I had was to work harder I told myself I would work harder than everyone else and I would never give up no matter what but what I didn't realize is this led me down a path where I was no longer making conscious decisions and instead defaulting to a decision that I had made in a moment of intense fear so how did I come full circle how did I get from that scared young girl to this strong Confident Woman standing on stage today well here's another confession I'm still scared the key is not to eliminate the fear but to learn to work through it how do we do this it's a process first we must become aware of the fear and take time to examine it many times we don't realize it's driving our actions once I did this I went from saying things like I don't have a choice to understanding that the path I was on was my choice we always have a choice even when it doesn't feel like it what is it that you are afraid of that's driving your actions once we take time to confront that fear and understand why we're making certain decisions it becomes possible to choose something different then the new question becomes what do you really want what is it that you are no longer willing to live without what are you choosing out of fear that you need to let go of to create space for the things that matter most many times we don't make conscious decisions because of this what if scenario that plays on repeat in our minds but when we confront that fear we can develop a plan for how to work through it going forward next we have to learn to be vulnerable I spent so much time hiding from my past stories and allowing them to make me believe that I wasn't good enough even now the uncertainty and fear continue to set in by having this awareness makes it possible for me to course correct learning to be vulnerable means asking for help from those who can help guide us to see things more objectively this can be a friend a mentor a coach a therapist or even an online Network and trust me I've had a lot of coaching lastly it's important to eliminate unrealistic expectations I found that so many of the expectations were my own expectations that weren't even real is it realistic to stay up all night studying for a test or to work a triple shift do we really need to be doing what everyone else is doing the answer is no we get to choose I want to challenge the belief that we have no choice because it's our job or the belief that we have to do something a certain way because it's always been done that way it's simply not true it's time to move past the point where self-neglect is acceptable and somewhat expected to a place where we set healthy boundaries self neglect leading to burnout is a pandemic hidden in plain sight and it's not just Health Care long work hours are common for oil and gas workers truck drivers sales managers corporate Executives legislators and many more in fact over the last few decades several well-known disasters have been leaked at least partially to employee fatigue some examples include nuclear plant catastrophes the Challenger space shuttle accident and the Exxon Valdez oil spill to name a few lack of sleep has negative consequences it weakens our immune system and leads to illness it causes mental impairment the National Institute for occupational safety and health explains that being awake for 24 hours is similar to having a blood alcohol level of 0.10 percent which would be above the legal level to drive in the United States this is a risk not just to ourselves but to everyone around us a physician's training is called residency because historically working long hours meant that they were practically residents of the hospital after my first year of training the Libby Zion law went into effect and it established that residents could no longer work more than 80 hours a week or 24 hours in a row at the time there were arguments that this was impossible to limit to 80 hours there were there were debates about the fact that patients here would suffer and residents wouldn't get adequate training but these debates forget the very reason the work hour limits went into effect in the first place her name was Libby and she was a college freshman who died in a New York Hospital while being cared for by two residents who were working long hours and exhausted as a result of this case the New York Health commissioner decided to challenge the systemic problems with long work hours in position training even today Physicians and training continue to prove that it's possible to find success and still work less 80 hours is still a lot though it makes this is the part of the talk that I did not plan one of my very best friends was supposed to be here with me today and she called me yesterday and said she couldn't come because she missed her flight and she was very upset but for me I had a little bit of relief because she had called me the night before and explained to me that she was working a 16-hour day and her plan was to go home and sleep for two to three hours and then drive an hour and a half to the airport if you're a person like that like I once was your mind's going to offer you the same words that she told me yesterday and they hurt me to my core she said you don't understand I have no choice she threw my own words back at me those are the words I used to say we always have a choice doesn't feel like it but we do remember that there is a point to diminishing returns where no matter how hard you work you are not accomplishing more I went through professional burnout three times I know that means I'm triple certified in Burnout I thought when I reached my goal I would slow down and be happy but we don't do that we continue the same lousy habits as a result the unhappiness continues and burnout pursues but when we say me first and prioritize our essential needs we become a much more powerful version of ourselves the result is a paradoxical outcome where we're more energized more productive and capable of Greater Success With Better time management in other words we get the job done better and in less time a change begins with each one of us individually when we show up as the best version of ourselves this is the ultimate success not only do we achieve the goal but we get to enjoy the accomplishment I hope you all will join me and say me first to challenge the status quo create healthy boundaries and set an example of what's possible for generations to come thank you laughs [Applause] [Music]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 120,501

Keywords: Career, English, Fear, Global Issues, Happiness, Medicine, Struggle, TEDxTalks, Work, [TEDxEID:52151]

Id: Mo9DS6kBDyY

Length: 19min 24sec (1164 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 30 2023