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Join us in this insightful episode as we delve into the world of creativity and wellness with Charity Hix, a burnout and wellness coach, and Kim Downey, a physician advocate and physical therapist. We explore how nurturing creativity within the medical field can help mitigate burnout, enhance problem-solving abilities, and improve overall well-being. Discover practical ways to incorporate creativity and play into your daily routine, and learn about the profound impact these practices can have on both personal and professional life.

Charity Hix is a burnout and wellness coach for introverts in health care and a non-clinical ophthalmologist. Kim Downey is a physical therapist.

They discuss the KevinMD article, “Revitalize your medical practice: Embrace creativity!”

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Transcript

Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show. Subscribe at KevinMD.com/podcast, and get CME for this episode by clicking on the CME link in the show notes. Today we welcome back Kim Downey. She’s a physical therapist and a physician advocate. And Charity Hix, she’s a burnout and wellness coach. Today we’re going to talk about “Revitalize your medical practice: Embrace creativity!” Charity and Kim, welcome to the show.

Kim Downey: Thanks, Kevin.

Kevin Pho: All right. So Kim has been on multiple times, bringing on these wonderful physician guests. She’s a passionate physician advocate, and just today I read she’s now an ambassador of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation. So congratulations, Kim. And what is it about Charity’s story that helped you find her?

Kim Downey: Well, actually we connected a year ago May, and she might have reached out to me, I’m not exactly sure, but it was really awesome that the first thing she said to me was, some of my favorite people are physical therapists. So we hit it off right away, and she offered to chat and we did. And then she later checked in with me, and I’m fortunate that some of my relatives live about an hour from Charity, which is like a 10, 12 hour drive for me, and I made that trip twice last year. So Charity and I got to meet in person and we had lunch a couple times.

And then last fall we collaborated on a KevinMD article with Dr. David Fessell and Dr. Todd Otten. And Charity’s takeaway from that article was, always leave space in your life for creativity, curiosity, and play. It’s remarkable where they can take you if you let them. And I loved that, and that planted the seed in my mind for another future article, which we published with Dr. Amy-Jo Farrow, who unfortunately wasn’t able to join us today.

Kevin Pho: All right. So Charity, you are a burnout and wellness coach. So tell us a little bit about your story and journey.

Charity Hix: Yeah, so thank you so much for having me today. I kind of knew I was going to go into medicine in high school. That’s just kind of what my trajectory always was, because I always loved learning science, biology, all that good stuff. But I also, at the end of my medical training, realized that I probably wouldn’t be staying in medicine forever. Not that I didn’t love being a doctor, but I knew there were other things that I wanted to pursue, and so I kind of had this in my mind that at some point in my career I would pivot.

And before I did that, I did go through my own version of burnout, and I understand how people can feel really stuck. And I know that even for myself, when my entire medical career I was always looking forward and being curious about what else was out there, even with that kind of mindset, I still felt really stuck when I was experiencing burnout.

And so I engaged the assistance of a coach, and I explored a lot of different careers, and Kim’s heard some of them. Some of them were medicine adjacent, some of them were not. I even took flower farming courses. So just being open to what was next. And then one day I realized, like, oh, I keep reading about coaching, and I keep reading about mindset and kind of how we approach life. And so it kind of dawned on me, like, oh, maybe that’s the thing that’s tapping you on your shoulder for your next step. So that’s what got me here.

Kevin Pho: Right. So Charity, when you described yourself as feeling stuck, just tell the audience, what type of medicine were you practicing or training for at the time when you said that you were feeling stuck? So what would be an example of that? Just give a description of what exactly you were feeling during that time.

Charity Hix: Yeah, well, so I’m an ophthalmologist, and I love eyeballs, I think they’re very cool. But I didn’t realize when I was going into ophthalmology the pace that it would be. It’s a very high volume type of practice, and I’m an introvert. I like to kind of go slow, get to know people really well. And so that whole, what felt like a conveyor belt to me, it definitely kept me feeling stuck, because I didn’t feel like I was connecting with my patients the way I wanted to.

I also didn’t feel like I was living up to the expectations of the volume that people wanted me to see. And so it was like everywhere I looked, it was kind of like I was letting people down. And after a while, it’s very draining to always feel like you’re just barely satisfying other people’s expectations. And so that, I think, kind of led to a spiral where I started focusing on the negative. And then the less you look for options and ways to change your trajectory, the more stuck you get. I think it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Kevin Pho: And Charity, when you were feeling stuck and you decided to pivot to things that are either medicine adjacent or away from medicine, how difficult was it for you to leave medicine, considering all that you invested to get to where you were?

Charity Hix: Yeah, I am probably a little different from most people that you’re going to hear from, and I think that’s part of it, is just because I had had that mindset from the beginning. And so I knew that I was getting everything out of medicine that I wanted to, I was putting everything in, and it wasn’t like I was leaving anything on the table, and I kind of had been preparing for that for 20 years.

So it’s a little different than other people that maybe hit a wall and then feel like they have to pivot, and maybe there are some things that they feel that they left on the table. But for me, I felt like that aspect of my career was complete, and I did it in the way that I wanted to do it. I left medicine with an attitude of looking forward to the next thing, rather than needing to get away from medicine. And I think that mindset impacts how you feel about leaving your career.

Kevin Pho: Well Kim, as you’re hearing Charity’s story again on this podcast, do you see any commonalities when you consider some of the other physician stories that you’ve heard, in terms of them feeling stuck in medicine and maybe looking for a way to be either medicine adjacent or something outside of medicine? How common is Charity’s story, considering all the physicians that you interact with?

Kim Downey: Yeah, well, fairly common. There’s a lot of physicians who talk about getting stuck. And I actually interviewed Charity on my podcast a few months ago, and one thing that I really liked that she talked about was how, instead of right away trying to leave, because wherever you go you take yourself with you and some of the issues will continue to follow you, that she tried to make her situation where she was the very best that she could. And she also talked about moving towards something instead of moving away from something. And I thought those two perspectives were really helpful for other physicians to keep in mind.

Kevin Pho: So Charity, I was looking at your LinkedIn profile and it says here, you are now a burnout and wellness coach for introverts in health care. So there are a lot of introverts in health care. So why do you position yourself as someone who would cater to that demographic?

Charity Hix: Well, it’s probably maybe obvious that I’m an introvert myself, and I think that’s one of the things that contributes to burnout for a lot of people. I think introverts, the medical environment is not set up for introverts in any way, and so they’re already expending energy just to show up the way they need to in today’s medical environment. And so I think it’s almost like the one-two punch, it’s a double whammy for introverts when considering burnout.

And so I wanted to kind of create space for people to explore, like, how can I actually honor my needs and the needs of my medical career in a way that feels good to me and like I feel like I’m satisfying other people’s expectations? And I think it’s a lot about managing energy. So I talk a lot about managing your energy and making sure you’re aware of when your energy and your battery is starting to drain, so that you recharge.

Because as you know, Kevin, physicians are just taught to go, go, go, like ignore your body, ignore what you need, ignore this, you just need to go and do the next thing. And so there’s a little bit of retraining to say, like, no, actually pay attention to those cues, because they can tell you when you need to slow down and figure out a way to give yourself a break, so that you can keep going at your highest level.

Kevin Pho: Some of the things that you wrote in your article were these creative ways that you express yourself in medicine. So talk about some of that creativity.

Charity Hix: Yeah. So my point being, there maybe isn’t always an option to be creative specifically in medicine. We have to practice evidence-based rules, and we’ve got protocols and guidelines. But just by adding creativity to your life in general, even if it’s outside of medicine, it creates a looseness that, when you do feel stuck, and there are pressing difficulties or problems, dilemmas that you’re trying to solve, when you put creativity into your life, that supports curiosity and playfulness.

And one of the things that I like to talk about is that playfulness lends itself to not having to feel like you have to be perfect. Like, when you’re playing, you’re like, maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t, and that’s OK. And then I go on and I see, like, well, OK, what’s the next thing I can try? And so that’s where I think adding the creativity actually helps in medicine. Maybe it’s not that you get to be creative in the way you treat your patients all the time, but it can be you get to be creative in the way you approach them. And I think that’s a big distinction.

Kevin Pho: So Kim, when you hear Charity’s story, and you talk to, again, so many physicians who have those creative outlets, and I guess in our world we see that a lot, but we’re a relatively small subset of physicians who are really exploring our creative passions outside of medicine. So for those listening to you on this podcast, what are some ways that you’ve seen other physicians be creative and not just get stuck in that defined pattern that we find ourselves in every day in medicine?

Kim Downey: Right. Well, one is music, and I know some physicians who are also musicians, and even one of my own doctors has picked up a guitar which he hadn’t been playing since he was a teenager, and that’s a great way. And Dr. Amy-Jo Farrow, who unfortunately couldn’t join us today, she draws pencil drawings and they are amazing. You would think that is her primary profession, is being an artist. And that’s fantastic. But also, while I say that, at the same time, you don’t have to be perfect or good. It’s the process of creating, that’s really what’s important.

And Charity herself loves gardening, and I think this year she was trying to raise some bat flowers, which are, I guess, hard to grow. So I’d be curious how that’s going. Charity, how’s your bat flowers doing?

Charity Hix: So far they’re not going great, but I’ve got other ones blooming, so I’m good.

Kim Downey: OK, good. And then there’s other doctors that like to dance. So those are just a few of the ways. And then some doctors I know are artists in other capacities, painters and different things like that.

Kevin Pho: So Charity, you’re obviously a burnout and wellness coach, so give us some advice for those physicians who may be listening to you and may be stuck, because like you said, our journey is so defined and it’s hard to branch off and find those creative outlets. So my question to you is, how can these physicians get started in a creative outlet when they’ve been so ingrained into this world of medicine for whatever, 20, 25 years? And how do they even take that first step?

Charity Hix: Yeah. Well, if we’re talking about moving towards creativity, I say schedule it, because we get into such inertia with our schedules. And I was even laughing at myself yesterday. I was working, and my schedule’s pretty flexible now, but for some reason I was like, oh, it’s work hours and I have to do this. I’m like, but it’s lovely outside, I can go out and do something else and come back and do work later. You just get stuck in those patterns. So just scheduling it, to start it out.

And I think when it comes to feeling better and burnout, sometimes you just have to start making yourself do things, and it almost feels counterintuitive, because it feels like, oh, this is one more thing that I’m making myself do that I have to do. But it’s just like exercise. Once you get going, the feel-good effect then takes over, and you don’t have to make yourself do it anymore. It’s just like, oh, this feels good and I want to do it more. So I think that’s it, if we’re talking about just getting started with creativity, just schedule it, 10 minutes a day.

And the other thing that I like to point out is, a lot of people feel like creativity is reserved for people who are practicing creativity with a capital C. And it doesn’t, you can be creative as long as you’re making something that wasn’t there before. You’ve created. I love to doodle. I would never sell them to anyone. No one’s going to give me any awards, but it makes me happy, and it is a creative outlet.

Kevin Pho: Is there a success story, Charity, that you can share with us, where you coached a particular physician, and it could be a hypothetical case as well, where you coached this physician and perhaps inspired them to be creative outside of medicine?

Charity Hix: Yeah, I wouldn’t say that I have a specific instance where we’ve specifically talked about creativity, but I think it is in there, just coaching is being creative, because you’re going after finding the choice. What are the possibilities? I love the “yes, and” game, because a lot of times people, it’s just like, oh, it’s just this one way.

And I think our medical training lends us to that as well, because it’s like, oh, you go to undergrad and then you go to medical school, then you go to residency, it’s very linear. And so if we can just get off that linear way of thinking and be like, oh, here’s an opportunity here, here’s an opportunity here. And so I think for most of the people that I work with, the big thing of bringing creativity in is just being creative in the way that you approach your everyday life.

Kevin Pho: We are talking to Kim Downey. She’s a physical therapist and a physician advocate. And Charity Hix, she’s a burnout and wellness coach. And we’re talking about the KevinMD article “Revitalize your medical practice: Embrace creativity!” Now I’m going to end with asking each of you just some take-home messages that you want to share with the KevinMD audience. Kim, why don’t we start with you?

Kim Downey: Sure. I’m going to share a takeaway from AJ from our article. She said she wasn’t able to be here. But speaking to how Charity was talking about how creativity doesn’t have to have a capital C, one thing is, I shared an episode of doctors doing improv, and I interviewed four doctors and we did some improv, where making mistakes is great. And that’s just one way to explore creativity, and we’re going to try to do a little more of that in the fall and open it up to other physicians.

And then, when speaking to the art, you don’t have to be an artist. You can even say, OK, what’s the worst art I could make, right? And then that frees yourself up. So like, I did this at Ann’s Place right now. This might belong in the Guggenheim, but nowhere else.

And then some other things I did at Ann’s Place, that’s the local cancer center where I explored some art things. And this was, we pressed pansies. So when you’re pounding out those pads, that could get out a lot of frustration. And this was in a place with sun, so it’s a little bit faded, some of the yellow flowers. But then you could even turn them into note cards or thank you notes for your own doctors, right? Because doctors have doctors too. And my cousin, her husband is a doctor, and she started doing little watercolors and she sends them as thank you notes.

And then the last thing I’ll share is, I started making some sea glass hearts. So again, they aren’t amazing or perfect or anything, but those are just things that, you don’t have to be an artist and you don’t have to be perfect.

So as far as from Amy-Jo: when doctors are struggling with symptoms of burnout, moral injury, or rust out, that’s a term I learned this week from a couple other doctors in the UK, one common feature is suppressed creativity, which compounds the problem. You just feel stuck. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for recovery, and AJ shares that it requires introspection, imagination, and problem solving to achieve post-traumatic growth and secondary prevention. And embracing creative pursuits can rejuvenate not only the practice of medicine, but also promote the self-healing of the healers.

Kevin Pho: And Charity, we’ll end with you, with your take-home messages.

Charity Hix: Yeah, mine is always just, be curious. I’ve kind of a broken record there. I think, again, creativity doesn’t necessarily have to be an art project. It can be any hobby. I think about people who tie flies for fishing, or do Legos, whatever. It doesn’t have to be art.

And so just look for ways to bring, I don’t know, it’s just that excitement and joy and curiosity, that sense of awe that you had when you were a little kid. That’s one of the things that I like to suggest, is just, like, think of the things that you liked to do when you were a kid, and you did them just because they were fun, and then go chase that.

And I had a patient one time, and she was a great inspiration to me, because she had a medical condition and ended up in a wheelchair, very immobile. And she was reflecting on her life, and she’s like, I’m not sad, because I went ahead and I did everything that I wanted to do, and so I don’t have any regrets. And so I just encourage people to kind of not wait to chase the things that you want, but live your life now.

Kevin Pho: Amen. Charity and Kim, thank you so much for sharing your story, time, and perspective, and thanks again for coming on the show.

Kim Downey: Thanks for having us.