"If I knew back in training and practice what I know now, I would have looked for the support and mentoring that would have helped me to forge a path in clinical medicine. But I saw help as an admission of weakness. I felt too much shame and guilt to even consider asking for any.

While I regret that I didn't access help before leaving practice, I am grateful to have learned an important lesson early and had the chance to course-correct my life. I'm a happier, more balanced person because of it.

I am awed by my physician colleagues who have known all along to put their human needs first—the old oxygen-mask-on-the-plane analogy. Thank you for the example you set for our profession.

Over time, perhaps there will be a new message that we all embrace: We are humans first and inspiring, gifted healers second."

Diane W. Shannon is an internal medicine physician and physician coach and can be reached at her self-titled site, Diane W. Shannon.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "We are humans first and inspiring, gifted healers second."

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We are humans first and gifted healers second

The Podcast by KevinMD