Navigating Exhaustion and Frustration in Residency: Coaching Session #5 with Dr. Mary

Shownotes For Podcast Episode 17: Navigating Exhaustion and Frustration in Residency: Coaching Session #5 with Dr. Mary

In this episode of The Holistic Physician Coaching Podcast, Dr. Jessica Singh coaches Dr. Mary during their fifth coaching session together. Dr. Mary is a family medicine resident in the United States, navigating intern year and life as a new physician mom.

Dr. Mary begins by sharing that coaching on anxiety during long hospital days has helped her feel more accepting and less frustrated near the end of the day.

In this session, Dr. Mary explores exhaustion and its impact on different areas of her life. She describes feeling that her “get up and go” has been lacking and reflects on how fatigue has affected her motivation, personal life, and mindset at work. She also shares frustration about not being able to simply “flip a switch,” along with feelings of helplessness and being out of control when her schedule contributes to poor sleep and offers little flexibility.

As Dr. Mary considers how she would ideally like to navigate exhaustion, she identifies a desire to respond in a healthy, practical, and independent way while keeping family at the center of her values. She also explores the distinction between having limited control over the circumstances causing exhaustion and having more choice in how she responds to the experience.

Dr. Mary reflects on the value of sharing her experience with co-residents and feeling heard, while recognizing that conversations around residency can sometimes reinforce frustration. She reconnects with gratitude for the privilege of caring for patients, meaningful learning experiences, and her belief that she is meant to be a doctor.

Later in the session, Dr. Mary recognizes a deeper source of frustration: the fear that fatigue may affect her ability to be a good doctor and a good mom. She identifies herself as her own worst critic and begins developing counterarguments to the thoughts that arise when she is exhausted.

She reminds herself that she does not have to be perfect, that there are people looking after her and her patients, that she is not alone, and that her current schedule is not forever. She also arrives at an unexpected reflection: these experiences may be helping her become a better “doctor mom.”

The session closes with Dr. Mary describing a shift from feeling helpless toward feeling more hopeful and empowered. She identifies several ways to support herself when frustration returns, including keeping her reminders with her, involving her husband, talking with co-residents, pausing to notice what she is feeling, and using gratitude as a form of positive reinforcement.

Timestamps:

00:00 — Reconnecting, Reflecting & Recontracting at the Halfway Point

04:46 — Clarifying the Session Focus: Navigating Exhaustion and Shifting the Mindset 

13:57 — Grounding in Purpose and Calling to Navigate Frustration

19:35  — Exploring the Inner Critic and Reframing Exhaustion 

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