Thursday, July 10, 2008
I Enjoy Being a Girl?
I began my 3rd year rotations this week. Quite frankly, I don't know if I have ever felt so lost/confused/dumb in my life. Needless to say, it has been humbling. If you watch any of the doctor shows, you are familiar with bedside rounds. It is where we do all of the research on a patient and discuss the patient in front of them and in front of med students/residents/attending doctor. Well, I am not very good at presenting because I haven't done it much. The doctor just started ripping my presentation apart in front of everyone. He interrupted me 5-6 times to tell me what I was doing wrong, and by that time, I was so flustered I could barely speak. I felt the tears coming, and I bit my lip as hard as I could while in the room. However, as soon as we walked out, the tears began flowing. Three of the people on our team are guys (including the attending doctor) and they all kind of just circled me and looked at me confused as to what they should do. I finally, said, "All right, we can walk now. I am fine." I was so embarrassed and annoyed, and I couldn't stop crying for some time! Now, I know I am portraying the doctor as a big jerk, but he is not. He was trying to help me with my presentation skills, but it was just all a bit much. I felt like the biggest wimp. So, if any of you girls out there have a secret to not crying, let me know! Obviously, the biting my lip thing is no longer working.
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4 comments:
Don't you dare!
Keeping it in is poisonous… Sure, don't lose your composure, but crying is a natural outlet.
I once heard a theory about crying that made enough sense to me that I accepted it as fact… but now that I'm about to share it with a med student, I'm doubting myself. But that hasn't stopped me in the past.
:)
The theory goes something like this: emotions are accompanied by potent hormones (I'll sidestep the tricky question of causal relationships, here). And like so many chemicals, these hormones are fairly reactionary. When we have two strong emotions collide, the hormones mix and may become toxic (think amonia and bleach). So the body flushes them out. That's part of the reason we tear-up at particularly happy moments, frustrating moments, sad moments… you get the idea. Strong emotion = need for chemical flush.
Don't know how true it is, but it's lead me to my own personal theory of why American men die, on average, 6-8 years earlier than women: they slowly poison themselves over their lifetimes by holding back the tears.
* shrugs *
Just a thought.
I have no tricks. Sometimes you just cry.
I guess I'm the odd girl out. I don't like to cry much - so if I feel like I'm going to cry I usually just let the person have it! Not yelling - but I start laughing at them - it's a really bad habit. OK- actually when I get really mad I cry too. I hate it.
I have the same reaction in those sort of moments and I hate it too!!! I don't know how to master that leakage, but I also know there's no real shame in it, emotions make life richer right?!
Ahhh who are we kidding it sucks. Try pinching yourself really hard, I find physical pain helps to distract.
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