January

The winter months are hard in residency. We often work through the holidays. We wish we could spend more time with friends and family. It is dark when we go to work, dark when we leave. Most of us crave sun and exercise and fresh vegetables (I have to admit, though, I am spoiled in California). We've lost the momentum with which we've started the year; our books fall to the wayside, we drag our feet through the day, what once excited us is now routine. And secretly, though most of us would not admit it, there is some grain of resentment that we do not have "regular jobs," that we are sacrificing some larger part of ourselves to this job which does not acknowledge sickness or holiday or the feeling of being burnt out, a job which demands all attention, saps us of our energy. I can't remember when I did not feel exhausted. Winter is hard. Hug a resident.