Hey friends, cheers to the first edition of Sunday Morning Rounds in 2026! 👏🏼
With the start of a new year comes change. Some expected, some unexpected 😵. Some immediate, and some in the near future 🔮. As I've been thinking about and planning for upcoming changes this year, I keep coming back to a quote from a video I watched recently:
"Change is hard because we have to give up control and accept the uncertainty of what comes next."
This quote makes me feel a lot of different emotions 🫨. For one thing, I'm not a big fan of change 🙈. While change is often for the better and can feel like a refresh or rebirth, many people (myself included) get comfortable with routine and things staying the same 🤷🏻♂️. Probably even worse than that is the fact that I have a hard time giving up control 🙁. So it's not the worst thing in the world if change must happen, but I'd at least like to have a say in the matter!
Then I think back to some of the big changes I've faced in medicine. When I was applying for residency, I was able to rank the programs I wanted to go to 🥇. But when I was standing there on match day holding the envelope that contained my life for the next several years ✉️, I had no control and I had to be okay with that.
Even nowadays in the emergency department, I frequently have to change the way I practice because of issues with space, staff, and resources 💉. As frustrating as that can be, I also understand that change is inevitable – and that means accepting uncertainty while also trusting myself and my team for whatever comes next 🤨.
I say all this because as someone who frequently struggles with change, this quote has been really eye opening 🧿. Pretending change isn't going to happen is silly. And thinking that I'll be able to control all the changes around me is a fool's errand 🤡.
But there is a middle ground.
A space where we know change will happen, we might not know what comes next, and that's totally okay. Because in that space we can find peace ☮️, confidence in ourselves 🩵, and trust in those around us 🤝.
So think about a change you have on the horizon that you're trying to control 😖. Rather than trying to think through every possibility 🧠, perhaps let yourself be okay with the fact that you don't have all the answers. See if that helps you feel lighter or frees up a little space in your mind for happiness ☀️.
I know it already has for me.
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