Now wasn’t that one long, horrific month! Usually time just goes by so fast during toxic months, but in this case January 2022 has painfully dragged on and on, making sure that we feel the slow, terrible grind. Here’s hoping I can always come home early this month. Cognitively we know that we can’t spread ourselves too thin, not in terms of time, or attention, or emotions. We can’t always blame ourselves for things beyond our control, or even those that are within our control, but once the things that call for attention are right in front of us, it’s sometimes hard to look away.

Thankfully, I have one less task to think about. We, the consultants in the internal medicine residents’ training committee, have been tasked to mentor the residents who will be taking their IM specialty boards this month. I was assigned to Parker, one of the smartest residents in the batch, the one who always topped their exams! I’ll probably just buy him coffee and ask are you ok? Are you ok? I can’t help you with anything else, right? Right?

Parker was also a graduate of the UP College of Medicine, so I felt like I had a special kinship with him when he entered the residency program. When I took the internal medicine specialty boards 11 years ago, I locked myself up in my room for a month, studying Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine for 10-12 hours a day. We didn’t have internet at home back then, so there was no distraction. It drove me nuts. I can’t imagine having a well-meaning “mentor” constantly bugging me at that time. There, I’ve rationalized letting Parker do his own thing.

Welcome, February. Bring it. Just kidding, don’t bring it. Make it as uneventful as possible.

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