It’s been a relaxing day. So relaxing that it made me start thinking about the importance of taking time to relax and rejuvenate. In reality, it’s my backyard that inspired today’s Practice Perfect. It’s May, on a Sunday, and I’m post-call after a very busy week. The wind has been gently blowing, causing the trees to sway and the leaves to make that wonderful crackling swishing sound. It’s actually my favorite sound.
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It brings me back to when I was in college in Northern Arizona during the summer listening to the leaves move in the breeze. It was a special time of reconnection between my wife, Melissa, and I when I would work in Phoenix during the week and drive up to see her attending summer school on the weekends. It was one of the best times in my life.
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Now, here I am so many years later having had so many experiences between then and now. I’m sitting on a lounge in the 70 degree heat, sunny sky, beautiful Southern California weather, watching my wife do one of her favorite activities…gardening. Through a lot of hard work, my wife has created a beautiful backyard oasis of greens and spotted colors. Space in California is at a premium so our backyard is small, but Melissa has made wonderful use of it. As the weather turned cool and temperate, I’ve taken to sitting outside whenever possible, absorbing the sounds of the wind chimes, water fountain, and views of the greenery.
The Shapiro backyard on a calm spring day.
This is not a particularly easy thing for me, as a person who tends toward overworking. Between teaching at Western University, running the Chino Valley Medical Center residency, an active clinical practice, and a variety of other responsibilities, my life is very busy. In our modern world, we are often so busy we don’t take time to stop working and just be. I recently heard a podcast about work becoming people’s identity and the problems this has caused, especially for the millennial generation. It’s understandable for a career to become all-consuming, especially when your vocation is a calling. Medicine and teaching have become that for me, and loving one’s job surely makes it easy to forget to relax.
Angulation-Rotation Deformity and Other Life-Altering Situations
Guido LaPorta, DPM, MS, FACFAS, FACFAOM
Director, Podiatric Medical Education Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital Binghamton, NY
Guido LaPorta, DPM, MS discusses how deformity planning aids in surgical planning and procedure selection. Dr LaPorta discusses how to use the graphic method to better plot out your surgical plan.
Available Credits: CPME 0.75
Loving one’s job surely makes it easy to have it become your identity. Don’t forget to relax!
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Ironically, writing this editorial is actually work, so am I really relaxing? Maybe I’m just fooling myself, but taking a moment to appreciate the wonderful things I have – a beautiful and special wife, wonderful kids, my health, a fantastic job being a podiatrist, and the privilege of writing my thoughts for friends and colleagues to read – really is a kind of relaxation in itself.
I hope all of you take a moment out of your busy lives to appreciate what you have and enjoy that fleeting time of true relaxation.
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