Pressing Pause
Why breaks are essential, even if they are unplanned.
Hello everyone!
If you’ve been following along here, you’ll know that it has been a minute (read: 2 months) since I’ve posted anything.
That’s because life has been busy recently.
But, when I really think about it, things have been busy for longer than just recently.
When I review what I’ve been up to in the last year, I see how the accumulation of accomplishments has led to me needing a creative break.
Since last August, I’ve accomplished/completed:
4 Grand Rounds presentations
3 national conference workshops
2 local conference presentations
2 national conference sessions as moderator
4 national conference presentations
1 international conference workshop
Personal essay in a medical journal
Multiple blog posts on Substack
Harvard Medical School Certificate course in Media and Medicine
Settling into my Pediatric residency Associate Program Director role
Transitioning into the Wellness Director Role for Graduate Medical Education
And, because I can’t help myself, I have two upcoming Grand Rounds presentations, a national conference presentation, and a keynote speech.
This exercise in writing out what I’ve done has been beneficial for a lot of reasons, but mostly to remind myself why my brain has felt fried.
I’ve felt short on new ideas, inspiration, and the motivation to publish the pilot episode of my podcast which has been ready since the end of July.
To be completely honest, I didn’t set out to take this break.
My brain sort of decided to take it for me. It decided that it was using its energy to navigate taking on a new role and all that comes with it. And, instead of fighting it, I rolled with it.
For a time, I wondered if I’d ever pick this blog back up.
Then, a wonderful thing happened.
I attended the 5th annual Women in Medicine Summit which was the first conference I’ve attended in the last year where I was not presenting.
I got to see old friends (both at the conference and outside), eat great food, meet people IRL who I’ve been talking to online for years, meet new people, and be inspired by the speakers and attendees at the conference.
As a result, my brain had the chance to start to think about what it wants to do next. Ideas for posts here and essays elsewhere have started to bubble up.
I found enough creative energy to overcome the inertia of this Substack standing still.
I’m not sure what the future will look like here, but I hope that this post allows those of you who are feeling like you need a break to give yourself the permission to take one.
You’ll likely come back better than before.