Post-Sabbatical Musings

Good morning, good people.

Now about six weeks back from sabbatical, I thought I would take a few minutes to write to the question many have asked since I returned to work:

“What life lessons did you learn during your time away?”

I recognize that it is an incredible privilege to have the ability to step away from work, something that many of my colleagues at UNM and almost none of the healthcare workforce outside of academia get to experience. It is not lost on me that in my clinic of nurses, medical assistants, pharmacists, social workers, community health workers, PAs, NPs, and MDs only the last group (MDs) are even eligible for sabbatical. That’s about 8 of us, with another 50 people who make up the other groups in the clinic.

Okay, deep breath.

It is admittedly daunting to answer the question above, and I tend to do what I just did here – sneakily avoid answering the question. It feels like I am expected to have something profound, so much so that the lights will flicker and the person will have a vision of The Hereafter just because of what I have shared.

Ignoring that pressure, here goes.

 

Lesson #1: I am much more in control of how busy life gets that I like to acknowledge

My wife has commented that during my sabbatical it didn’t seem to her that my work schedule or commitments was that different than when I am working. I noticed this as well. I have a tendency to fill each day with lots of things, and sabbatical just meant that I got a bit more options in how to fill the day. So, if even 6 months off work didn’t allow me to slow down in a real way, obviously the issue lies with me, not with life beyond, my job, etc.

Reflection: Take a quick glimpse of your schedule for today and the rest of the week. Is there a healthy amount of time for you to decompress, to breathe deep, to practice self-care in your schedule? If not, own your part in making it so. But also take the opportunity to edit, delete, and add as needed.

 

Lesson #2: There is a volume nob on the noise in life. I need to use it.

For astute blog readers, you will remember this came up in my piece about the labyrinth. A very simple but important realization for me that noise – those things that distract us from being our best self – is something I can choose to turn up or down. An example of how I am now working to actively manage the volume button: I decided during the sabbatical to turn off sports talk radio as the thing I listen to before bed. My wife refers to this form of media as “male gossip” and I think she is right on. Not that it is harmful, but it is noise. And by replacing it with silence before bed, it allows me to settle into sleep in a much better way.

Reflection: Take a few moments today to list a few of the “loudest” sources of noise in your life at the moment. Now, circle items on the list that you have some or total control of, in terms of how loud they are. Pick one that you have circled and come up with a plan for the next week of how you could gently (or drastically) turn the volume down on that noise source.

 

Lesson #3: Play is really important for me and my health

It is no coincidence that I began to write on the topic of play and its importance for our health as adults during my 6 months of play that was sabbatical. It wasn’t on my list of things to do when I went on sabbatical, but it naturally became something that I began to think and write about. I even wrote a piece with a colleague on how we can incorporate play into clinic visits and our treatment plans. (A few of our meetings for the paper involved a conversation while playing ping pong).

I think the simplest way that I have found to capture the essence of play is this: the point of playing is not to win, but to play. I realize that most of life is set up for us to have a goal-oriented reason for each task, and when it comes to sports and games, we still focus on winning as the goal.

I like the example that dogs give us in this realm – imagine a Chihuahua and Pit Bull sniffing each other out at the dog park. 5 lbs (on a good day) vs. 90 lbs. And then they begin to play. Despite the massive size discrepancy, you realize a few minutes later that they are still playing. The bigger dog is lying on its back letting the little one throw some jabs. The dogs realize that the point of the game is not to win, but to keep the game going.

Reflection: How are you playing currently in life? Do you wish you played more? Are there activities you currently do that could be enhanced by focusing more on the play itself, as opposed to making them goal-oriented or about winning? Are there new forms of play that you want to explore? Play with this one!

Not surprisingly, when I googled images of "play", there were only images of children that came up. But Bluey's dad is a great example of a playful adult. So here's a nod to Australian PBS. Watch an episode if you haven't already.