What a breath of fresh air…
I want to thank one of our community members, Karyn, for sharing this w me last nt. Full disclosure, I wasn’t familiar w Dr. Jen Lincoln, until yesterday, “National Doctor’s Day” when Karyn shared this incredible thread w me.
Yes, this is only one of the tweets she posted, in a long line of them. In the tweets she talks abt her role as an OBGYN – the joy of delivering babies, but the agony of the loss when a delivery isn’t successful. She talks abt holding that in…smiling for the next patient when she feels like crumbing.
Can you imagine what it’s like having a job where you do one of the greatest things in the world – deliver new lives w a blank slate & so much of a life to live ahead of them, while at the same time have to deal w the complications of losing such precious lives…even having to lose mothers due to complications?
And why “must” they hold in those emotions? Bc that’s what the industry tells them? Just like for so long the industry has told therapists that it’s all abt the patient & not them. Not to reveal anything abt themselves.
Like first responders who aren’t supposed to show ANY emotions? Supposed to be the stoic ones who arrive at the scene of accidents & just go thru the motions like “this is their job & they just have to act robotic.”
This “old way” isn’t working. When we suppress emotions, they accumulate even more – stress & trauma build inside of us & wreak havoc. It’s why in Jen’s thread she talks abt the suicide of docs.
In my old industry, pro sports, on the exec side, this is still a wall that hasn’t come near crumbling down. The CEO’s are supposed to wear pastel ties, blue pinstripe suits, brown pointed shoes, & portray an image of perfection – infallible…omnipotent.
The result? Bc I see it at all these teams & leagues I visit: entry level staff dressing & acting like mini-CEOs, burning out 6 months into their first job in sports.
Like the pic of DK Metcalf talking abt therapy…of Eddie George doing yoga, we need more Dr. Jen’s in this world – willing to challenge the “old way” in a provocative way…bc that old way is killing us.