Dr. Green
“One day you will share the story of where you are today and how you overcame it, and it will become someone else’s survival guide.” Brene Brown (via Parul Somani)
Parul Somani is a mindset expert who shared advice on how to overcome mental fatigue associated with uncertainty and challenges in our lives. She offered a step-by-step guide to embrace change, make hard decisions, and thrive with intention—to become a “MOVE-r.”
A survivor of breast cancer, she uses her story to become a survival guide to others. She offered a four-part framework to move forward with intention when facing an issue with which we struggle. A mover is proactive and clear in their intentions. While we cannot be movers in all areas, we can choose which areas are most important in life and choose to be a mover with intention in those areas. She advised us to think about where we are and where we want to be, and then Mobilize to the goal.
Ms. Somani asked the audience to consider their locus of control and to recognize if they have an external “things happen to me” or internal “I make things happen” mindset. If one recognizes an external locus of control, she advised us to break free from this mental trap (Overcome): Seize control of the situation (she shaved her head when losing her hair during her treatment), reframe the situation (her first scary day of chemotherapy became the first day her tumor would shrink), and let go (What do you hold on to that does not serve you anymore?). She noted we have large circles of concern—the things we worry about—but a very small circle of control within that circle of concern. The things we can control are our own thoughts, decisions, and choices.
When making difficult choices on the Voyage, she ultimately recommended asking the question, “What is my path of least regret?” What are you optimizing for, what are the options and their relative tradeoffs, and which path forward will provide the greatest peace of mind when you look back?
The “E” in MOVE is for Elevate. To thrive and create meaning, she advised nurturing accountability, allowing for detours (maybe the path of least regret changes), and celebrating the wins.
Dr. Green is an internal medicine hospitalist, internal medicine associate program director, and chief medical officer at Paris Regional Health in Paris, Texas.