Relationships, Or How I Learned To Be More Selfless

Medical training is tiring.  The mindset I follow (and a lot of us follow) is to put the patient first.

Many of us wake up at 430 am, then go 6+ hours without drinking water, eating, or going to the bathroom because we're taking care of patients in one way or another.

My life outside of medicine is incredibly important to me.  I crave time outside of medicine like nothing else.  The thing is, I'm exhausted from work.  Going 12+ hours with hardly any food or water or sleep really hits you by nighttime.

One day I noticed that in medical training, I always go follow whatever orders I need to when my superiors tell me to, but felt pretty resistant to when my partner told me to go do the dishes, take out the trash, or do other chores because I was worn out.  I decided they needed to be treated better, so I treated my house duties the way I treat my clinical duties.

I think things have improved.  I'm not any less tired, but I hope I'm an example to others showing you can still find the energy to make a relationship work.