Physician Shame Part 3
Vulnerability
Dear friends, especially my colleagues,
My original post (or a least a version of it that did not include F words) was published several weeks ago now. Having written one ‘good enough’ post, I thought I would try my hand at a second story. Ever since, I have felt blocked, frozen, even constipated. Why? My best guess is because there is still stuff for me to process and heal about the particular story I have decided to share. Vulnerability is the best medicine for dealing with shame, no doubt. And, there is, particularly in the medical field where lives are at stake, consequences for opening our mouths, sharing, telling the truth about ourselves. So – we hide from our shame. We bury it. We pretend it is just another emotion that we have to stuff. We tell ourselves, “I’m fine. I don’t have shame”; “I am doing my best, even if I am not perfect – oh right, everyone expects me to be perfect”; “If they only knew”. Or, more likely, “fuck, fuck it” (my personal favorite). Finally, it feels like if we talk about it, let ourselves feel it, become a normal human again, we will be pulling the first thread of a large tapestry that undoes it all. The thread never ends until it is all unwound and POOF! “I’ll disappear!” Because, if I don’t “people will fire me!”; “I’ll be sued”; “the board will take my license”; “My family will never understand and will leave me”; “I’ll be alone”. Therefore, deny, don’t tell the truth, hide true feelings, turn off emotions, and SUCK IT UP. As the marines say, “embrace the suck”!
What will people say as I write more stories? What will the consequences be? To tell the truth, some of the stories would be/could be, in the past, a threat to my license, my career – given the current health system (more on that to come). What I do know and what I have learned is the great power of being vulnerable to a bigger and bigger audience. Why? Because I have heard how much of a difference it makes from a lot, a lot, of you. My intention is to share my stories because many cannot. Part of the reason I can be vulnerable and self-revealing is that I don’t have a license to worry about. I am retired. I gave up four state licenses because I was done. Just done; not like “omg, I can’t do this anymore” done, but simply complete with clinical practice; on my terms, and when I chose to move on. An astrologist friend (actually more than one) recently told me it was in the stars for me to have many deaths and rebirths. It is in the stars for me to take on the taboo. This is just one more. Physician coaching, providing deep and healing listening as a doctor is brave enough to open up, is a privilege. It is sacred – just like those early years of delivering babies. Likewise, vulnerability and connection, just like the birth of a baby, are miracles of life for those of us who deal with shame…perhaps just try it.
Blessings,
Dr. Robyn Alley-Hay
Read my post "How shame almost ruined a physician’s life" on Kevin MD