I was asked to do a short teaching session for a small group of doctors(MD) already qualified and well on their way to getting their specialist qualifications.

I decided to deviate from the usual medical teaching that they get throughout their training but rather try to introduce them to new ideas and skills which may help them in life, so, I surprised them with a talk on managing stress , preventing burnout, self-awareness, thought awareness....and so on.

The initial reaction I got was one of cynism, What stress? AH We thrive on it! We perform better when we are stressed! Well yes, that is true up to a point, I had to agree. However when one looks at the stress/performance graph which shows that as stress increases, performance increases until you get to the peak and then it is downhill from there.

We went onto discussing stress preventing strategies and I tried to point out that a lot of stress is caused by our interpretation and judgement of events rather than the actual event itself, and, therefore, by changing our thinking and interpretation of events we can dramatically reduce our stress levels. "That is too simplistic" one of the members of the group called out, once again, disbelief and cynism. Well yes, it does sound rather simple but try it and see!

I went onto mentioning techniques to cut off the stress response once it had been activated and deep breathing and meditation were mentioned. "Do you do these things?"
one of them asked me, with a look of amazement on her face. She was even more amazed when I said yes, I take a few minutes time out on a busy day or night and clear my head, take some deep breaths and feel renewed. At this stage I got the feeling that they thought I am a bit strange, but yet, they work with me, know me, they are aware that I have a very well balanced life, so somehow the pieces did not fit.

I felt it necessary also to mention the concept of self-care as doctors generally are very good at looking after others but not so good at being "selfish" and taking care of their own needs, Here too, the feeling was that this was too "touchy-feely" and "we are not wimps" .

It was only when I pulled out articles that had appeared in the last couple of years in the medical literature with statistics on the prevalence of stress and burnout, the severe consequences it may have that I felt I now had their attention and that maybe what I had to say was not totally absurd, and that maybe they should give their lives some thought.

Now, on my side, How do I feel about this session ? Well, I have a high level of self confidence and I certainly do not let the fact that a few people think I have simplistic ideas about life worry me. Through my coaching I have reached a point of awareness which others have not had the opportunity to reach. The simple things like taking deep breaths and challenging negative thoughts which may rent some space in my head, works for me, seems to work for my coaching clients at present, so, Why should I give it up?

I do not think I have converted the group, it was never my intention to. What I am hoping though is to have just planted a tiny seed which may germinate in time, if this tiny seed can prevent one life, one career from burning out, then, yes, I have achieved something.