I agree that a doctor’s life is pretty stressful and I am in a job which is equally, if not more stressful. I am a combat soldier. Yes, we undergo grueling training sessions and are prepared to face any kind of situation, but sometimes even that is not enough. Being trained in your own country and then being in some alien place where you are not welcome at all are two different scenarios. In a war zone, you have to live with the fact that you might not see your friends and family again. Trust me; it’s a huge burden to live with. But still we do it, because somebody has to do the job. We do have our stress busters. When you make a friend in the war zone, you can be sure that he/she is your friend for life. There is a lot of love amidst the chaos, which is what helps us beat stress and keep our wits about us.

If I told you I have health problems and work related stress problems, you might not come back and seek my services. I am a doctor. Every occupation is noble, comes with its share of stress but I don’t think anyone comes near being a doctor. We are humans, but for our patients messiah. Mathematicians play with numbers, writers play with words, but we deal with lives. There is no place or scope for mistakes when you are a doctor. You have to be perfectionist 24/7. You have to be alert 24/7 and you have to keep yourself updated with all that’s happening in the world of medicine; which is a lot. The only way doctors can manage stress is by being organized and by delineating their roles clearly. If things go well, people would be quick to praise you, but the same people would not think twice before blaming you for something that you couldn’t have helped. What doctors need to keep in mind is that they are not omnipotent and that there are things they can’t control. Most of the times doctors forget to practice what they preach, i.e. going for regular health checkups. Doctors also miss out on quality time with their families because of long and erratic work hours. Hence, they should try as much as possible to keep their lives as organized as possible and take the much deserved breaks every now and then.

During an altercation, one night, my husband said “you do not know how hard life is because you are a stay at home mom. Now seriously how hard can that be”? Now, you would think that I gave him some food for thought right then and there. But, no I have my own share of stress and anxiety, but I do not let it get to me. True, I don’t have to sift through the traffic jams at snails’ pace but I have 2 kids and they keep me busy all day. You might predict an Armageddon but you can never predict what your little kid will do next. You have to be on vigil all night. You have to make sure that your baby eats healthy food, is not exposed to dust and dirt. So, you then have to make to make sure that the house is clean, that the clothes are washed and dried on time. That your baby’s milk is the correct temperature. Trust me, it is no easy task, but they are my kids and I would not have it any other way. I have my whole day organized. True, each day brings with it some surprising element but I always take things in my stride. I am a very positive person, I know how to balance my life and whenever I am in trouble, I discuss it with my friends and family.

I am a Harvard University alumnus, and so it might come as a shock for you to read my story here. I was glad that I made it to Harvard, obviously. All I had done in my life was study. I could read, I could write, but I could never pluck up the courage to go and talk to people. I was what you would call a quintessential loner. There came a point, when I would be consumed in my work. Let alone the outside world, I could not even read my own body’s signals. I would have panic attacks, I would overeat, and breakdown on the phone every time I spoke with a family member. That’s when my mother realized, there was something really wrong with me and asked me to go and meet the campus counselor. Things started to look up from then on. My peer counselors helped me open up and talk about what was bothering me. I started exercising and eating healthy. All these things worked wonders for my body and my mind. So, if you are going through a hard time, my advice is go talk to someone about it. Do not bottle up your feeling. For, you get help only when you ask for it.

Eighteen years back, I was the most successful real estate developer in New York. People I knew would cringe at the thought of going to work, but my day started at 7 and did not end before 9. Yet, I loved each and every minute of it. I loved that my work entailed travelling, meeting new people, negotiating and winning. And so, when one morning, I could not move my limbs and couldn’t get out of my bed, I failed to figure out where things had gone wrong. Luckily, for me, my partner was at home and he called the paramedics. After performing a battery of tests, my doctors told me that I had burnt out because of work related stress and that my body had shut down in protest. For a few weeks I lived in denial. I refused to believe that my mind and body could want different things. But gradually I began to accept things. I realized there was more to life than just work. I joined yoga classes, went for weekly massages, stopped working on weekends, spent more time with my partner and my family and needless to say, I love the second phase of my life where I can have a little bit of everything.