Dear friends,

It has been a tough month, hasn’t it? At this time of year, I am usually enjoying the longer days and coming out of my winter hibernation. Since I last wrote you, though, I have been caught up in the chaos of our federal government. Even though I know it is their strategy to throw us off balance, I have still been affected by all of their terrifying and disheartening actions.

Dear friends,

I am writing this message on January 29th, and it will post as my February blog. I am sure there will be more executive orders and directives in the next few days, and I expect our stress and uncertainty will continue to be in high gear. It’s hard to know what to say, so I will start simple: you are not alone. Seek out your people and be in community.

Dear friends,

We are closing in on the end of a rollercoaster year, and I hope you have some rest ahead. I know the future seems very uncertain right now, and I have been alternating between distracting myself and feeling paralyzed by existential dread. The best comfort I have found is in community, focusing on what matters. We are lucky to be doing work that can make the world better, which is its own form of resistance.

Dear friends,

Happy summer! Even in San Francisco we are enjoying some lovely sunshine, and I hope you are too. How is your work pace? I was looking forward to a summer lull, but it hasn’t happened yet. My days seem more packed than ever, and my usual planning strategies are not keeping me from falling behind. So let’s talk about coping with, if not exactly embracing, work chaos. I’m talking about that feeling of having multiple demands come at you unexpectedly, going from meeting to meeting without surfacing long enough to think through a logical plan, and burning through the work time set aside on your calendar without getting the important stuff done.

Dear friends,

It’s rainy, cold, and gray as I look out the window of my home office, and I find myself searching vainly for some inner sunshine. I expect I am not the only one looking forward to longer, warmer days! I hope this March finds you thriving, or at least getting by. The title of this month’s post comes from a saying in Bengali, my first language, which translates to, “If you do people favors, you’ll be eaten by tigers.”  Let me tell you the story that brought this colorful expression to mind.

We are one month into the new year, how are you doing with those resolutions? In case your best intentions have fallen by the wayside, I would like to suggest some resolutions that I wish my mentees and colleagues would take on.

May this new year bring peace and rest for all of you. The post-holiday part of winter tends to drag for me; I hope you are finding ways to enliven the short dark days! Today I am sharing an end-of-December experience that may resonate with you.

May is upon us, and it’s still raining in San Francisco! The weather is reflecting my mood as I am still trying to shake off the cold, dark, long winter. I hope all of you are embracing spring and seeing some wildflowers. My recent travel to the American College of Physicians meeting last week inspired this post. At the meeting, I had informal and impromptu discussions with two midcareer physicians who are interested in working at UCSF.

Hope the start of April finds you thriving. After enduring a long, dark, stormy start to the year, I’m looking forward to a green and luxuriant spring!

Here we are, February 2023. I am sending solidarity to all of you as we contemplate mass shootings, anti-Asian hate, and the terrible police-perpetrated murder of Tyre Nichols, among other injustices and crises. There are no words- just remember that you are not alone. Reach out to me anytime, be kind to each other, and be patient with yourself. Everything going on in the world continues to make it hard to focus on work.