Resilience, Pay Attention to Small Openings Nancy Sharp

Nancy Sharp- The other day I presented my new workshop on resilience to a group of medical residents. I was forewarned by the physician who invited me to present not to raise my hopes about the eagerness of the audience. “These guys are overworked, burned out, and probably a bit dubious about a workshop touting individual resilience when the ‘system’ overall encourages homogeny.” Hmmm, this could be any number of cultures. “Got it,” I told her, undeterred by the challenge but aware that I would need to somehow address what I knew to be true for them right now: that even though I couldn’t change their specific culture, I could still help them develop strategies to better navigate the pressures of residency and beyond. The challenge reminded me of the Zen proverb: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Forcing solutions almost always backfires, and in my view, is counterproductive to all forms of resilience. With this in mind, I made a point to simply present the material without trying to win anyone over. The residents smiled at me even as a few brazenly texted or whispered to their friends or caught up on assignments. One young man looked so tired I thought he might be sleeping with his eyes open. He appeared glued to the wall. At this point in my life and career, I know better than to take such things personally.