Protect Your Mind

“If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so they may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled—have you no shame in that?” - Epictetus My mentor once told me that a hospital will squeeze out every last second you’re willing to give it- and some more. I didn’t believe him until the Tuesday I stayed three hours past my shift answering questions I could have delegated, chasing paperwork that wasn’t urgent, and getting pulled into a conversation about hospital politics that had nothing to do with me or my patients. I drove home in the dark, missed dinner with my parents, missed the evening run I’d been promising myself for two weeks, and sat on my bed still in my scrubs- too wired to sleep, too empty to do anything useful. The worst part? The hospital hadn’t taken those hours. I had handed them over, one small distraction at a time, as freely and as foolis…