As 2023 comes to a close, I have been prompted to think about things.

Yeah, so I didn’t hit all my personal goals. Oh well. I grieved. I’m grateful I get to try again. I get to try again daily, annually, whatever time I allow myself.

I remember I have to give myself grace.

Life is hard!

With Grief, it’s a sense of loss. Not just in the personal life do we find grief but also in the professional arena—lack of promotion, lost opportunity, putting too much weight on our identities as physicians.

We forget to be grateful for the beautiful gift of life.

Life is beautiful. It’s not always unicorns and rainbows, but partially cloudy with a bit of opportunity if we have the right vision, mindset, and framing.

With grief, comes gratitude.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be breaking down areas of grief. It’s not just about the death of a loved one or a loss of promotions. It’s also the loss of self, purpose, Relationships, missed opportunities, etc.

Why would I want to discuss this?

We need to grieve in order to grow.

We need to grieve in order to process all those feelings—the good, bad, ugly, and beautiful.

Out of the growth, grief, and feelings can come a sense of gratitude, personal growth, and a better self.

Originally Published on https://www.theworthyphysician.com/blog

Sapna Shah-Haque Internal Medicine Physician

Dr. Sapna Shah-Haque, MD is a board certified Internal Medicine physician. She was born and raised in Kansas, and attended medical school at the University of Kansas [KU] School of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at KU-Wichita as well. After experiencing burnout herself, and watching other physician colleagues burn out, it became a passion of hers to look into different aspects of burnout. While the system does need to change, as it is broken, this podcast is a way to reach physicians and possibly shed light on what is not an isolated situation.