Sunday, September 7, 2025

More (greatly appreciated) wisdom from Daniel Waters, DO

The 3 S’s that you must have in your possession when you retire:

Sanity: modern medical practice can drive you crazy…moral injury, burnout, empathy exhaustion, PTSD, stark raving lunacy, terminal cynicism…The reason you need to carry your sanity with you into retirement is that only through an unfractured lens can you focus and thus make sense of your life’s work.

Sense of humor: some aspects of medicine just lend themselves to laughter-never at a patient’s expense, but at situations that come under the broad umbrella of “well, you certainly don’t see THAT every day.” When you finally decide to close the cover and put the book of your career on the shelf, you’ll want to have a smile on your face.

Self respect: when you shuffle off…what remains of your medical life is your reputation and your contributions. Unlike our dust-faded selves, that never gets old.

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