LifestylePersonal Development

Doctors, Why Taking A Break Will Not Cure Your Burnout

Last week I called dozens of doctors who were experiencing or have experienced burnout.

They got to a point where they were not as excited to go into work as they used to be, felt exhausted, felt that every day was a struggle and they were over it all.

Many started to rethink their career paths within medicine and also if they should stay in medicine all together.

It’s a real problem.

So I wanted to know more about the way they managed this – what they did to address the burnout.

And it turns out their ONLY possible solution to managing this in the short term…

AND in the long term on an ongoing basis…

Was to take time off.

To have a break.

To go on holidays or go part-time.

Which sounds like a good idea. In fact, it sounds like heaven to most people!

Having extra time for yourself, for your family, for dinner times.

BUT…

This creates a cycle that says your life sucks and you need to escape from it to be happy.

What happens when you have to go back to work?

When your annual leave runs out?

When you have to go full-time again PLUS study?

Then the pressure is back on. The same stressors that affected you before are still there.

Some say it will be different this time.

Yes it will be different – it’ll be worse!

Because now your only strategy to avoid burnout is used up and you’re stuck.

It’s no longer a viable solution.

It takes less time for those stressors to get to you. Nothing really changes.

If your solution to a problem is to avoid the problem, it’s not going to work.

It’s like living for the weekends. Only looking forward to the holidays.

Trying to just get through each day hoping that you can escape work as soon as possible.

More is needed.

I say this because it hurt me so much to hear this was the only solution for ALL the doctors I spoke to.

It particularly hurt because I saw my parents go through this too. Every day growing up, I saw my mum studying and my dad working and studying. They were grinding themselves to the bone.

My mum never got though her medical exams and gave up eventually.

My father got through but, as we all know, it doesn’t end once the exams are over. That’s when the work really begins.

And I saw it in myself.

As a doctor and as a business owner, I struggled. I looked forward to the holidays, the weekends, the breaks. Pretty soon those breaks didn’t do it for me anymore. Even 6 month long ones.

Sure, take the break! Take the holiday! But more is needed. More understanding of why you feel this way and more techniques to enjoy every day instead of just the weekends.

There’s a better way to do things. I found it after 24 months of burnout.

If you want to find out more about how YOU can live everyday rather than just during your break…

If you want to live your best life NOW, without quitting your job…

Then click here to learn the one thing you can do right now to start working on this.

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Tomasz Forfa

Tomasz Forfa

Dr Tomasz Forfa is an Australian Doctor-Entrepreneur whose purpose is to transform the face of Australian Medicine for the better. His vision for the future is one where Doctors are unafraid to push beyond the limits of their profession and break through the confines of the medical industry’s traditional methods and ways of thinking.