"The truth is, we were all drowning, alone, and hiding behind the image of perfection. Clearly, each of us secretly thought that the others had it all figured out. We were so afraid of admitting weakness or asking for help, so we kept it to ourselves and muddled through, burnt out and miserable, terrified of being judged for our vulnerability.

When we negatively judge ourselves for needing help, we end up judging others who need our help too.

Our patients feel this undercurrent of judgment when they ask for our help. They don't want to face that vulnerability because they too feel judged.

Asking for help and facing our struggles with honesty is a sign of courage and compassion. It is human nature to need each other and to feel connection.

Maybe if we'd all been a little less armored, more vulnerable, and shared our struggles with each other, our cohort of future doctors could have leaned on each other to cope better back during our intern year too."

Jordana Rothschild is a preventive medicine physician.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Doctors are humans, not heroes." (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2021/08/doctors-are-humans-not-heroes.html)