BOOK INTRODUCTION

Women who become physicians are suffering from record alarming rates of burnout, emotional exhaustion, stressors and even suicide. What we do not learn as students, trainees or attending physicians — what is not imparted to us in our long and arduous education and training — is the understanding that in order to best serve as the healers and physicians we have the potential to become, we have to first be strong and healthy in our own body, mind and spirit.

“Do no harm” has to apply to ourselves first. 

It has become clear to me that the underlying cause of the burnout for physicians is a lack of boundaries and good self-care habits.  The word “boundaries” can be fraught with emotion for many women (you might be one of them, I certainly once was!). Just the image of creating boundaries can make us feel stressed and tense, as though we are restricting ourselves or pushing away something or someone, or as if we are creating an electric fence around ourselves. Even worse, we often feel enormous guilt. 

Why is this? Why does holding to our boundaries feel so hard?

Why do we feel so guilty when simply protecting ourselves and our lives?

Why do we feel this is selfish? 

We dig deep into these questions in the book.

Through sharing my own story and that of three other women physicians, I hope to break the barrier of silence and shame so commonly shared in our profession.  By admitting our own struggles and committing to ourselves, we have the opportunity to change the trajectory of our lives.  My hope in writing this book is to equip women who practice medicine with the tools to create healthy boundaries and self-care practices, so that they can thrive and love their practice.

boundaries help us create freedom.

“My wish is for you to discover and create sacred space for you. Boundaries start with you, from within. From this place of strength, you can create anything, including a life you love as a woman who practices medicine.”

- Tammie Chang MD