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March 3, 2020 - the day I launched my book “Unlocking Your Authentic Self” on Amazon. March 13, 2020 - the night we opened our covid-19 triage unit and the night I all but disappeared into an underground parking garage for the next 4 months.
It started out freezing cold in the parking garage triage unit...it became so hot later. After 4 days down there, bundled up under full PPE, I became the Director of the Traige Unit. (Yes, I know it’s bizarre that a pathologist ran the triage unit).
I’m not immune from #impostorsyndrome, even though I literally wrote the book. Imagine my self-doubt, on the front line, taking care of patients, after 20 years of sitting behind a microscope! I quickly remembered that love and compassion were almost as important as examination.
It was a crazy time, full of out-of-the-box thinking, innovation, fast pivots, and adaptation. One night the invaluable, dedicated team was a forensic pathologist, orthopedic surgeon, and a radiologist. It always worked and our patients were so grateful.
I received many blessings, gratitude, and I also found meaning and purpose from those grateful patients. One patient also tried to give me a case of beer. (Don’t worry, I politely declined, even though it was beastly hot that day!)
And all that time, I hardly thought about my book, which was quietly percolating along on Amazon.
It would give a little jolt of joy when a woman would email me, tweet, or Facebook message to say that the book was helping her to overcome the self doubt of impostor syndrome that is rampant in this tumultuous world. “Oh right...I wrote a book!” I’d remember.
Even if I didn’t respond to each precious message in my stupor of exhaustion from too many hours, aching feet from concrete floors, and avid reflux from lukewarm pizza and too much coffee...your messages gave me strength, optimism, hope, and courage.
I needed those words of impact, just like I needed the blessings from my patients. Thank you for lifting me up.
This pandemic is not even close to over. Each one of us need jolts of positivity, moments of gratitude, and explicit examples to reinforce our meaning and purpose. Actually, we need it more than ever! What can each of us do to lift another up today?
Thank you to these amazing lifters. @Docbasia @DrRGebhard @Sara_Jiang @RakheeBhayaniMD @ShikhaJainMD @SaraEWobker @NRiddleMD @DrFNA @ErikaPetersenMD @abbyCCim @FisselRuth @GuptaMpeyton1 @HMcKnightMD @AskDrDonnica @whatsyourjourn Tag the ones who lift you up.
