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The strategic art of dialing friction up and down to protect your sanity

Friction Management?

Friction management is the work of boundaries, and it might just be your secret weapon against overwhelm. In this episode, we dive deep into how technology has reduced friction in ways that are actually making your life harder, and what you can do about it.

The Problem: When "Convenience" Creates Chaos

Epic Chat, Teams, and other instant messaging systems were designed to make communication easier. But here's what actually happened: they removed the friction involved with interrupting you, creating a constant stream of non-urgent interruptions while you're trying to provide patient care.

Picture this: You're in the exam room with a patient, fully focused on their care, when ping "Mrs. Jones checked in 17 minutes late for her 20-minute appointment. I know the cutoff is 15 minutes, but should we see her anyway?"

Now you're the bad guy. The front desk person avoided their discomfort with enforcing policy, Mrs. Jones gets to bypass the boundary, and you're left making split-second decisions while trying to care for the patient in front of you.

This is friction management gone wrong.

Where You Need to DIAL UP the Friction

1. Non-Urgent Staff Communications

Stop answering every ping immediately. Create friction by:

• Simply not responding to non-medical, non-urgent messages
• Using auto-responses: "I am currently seeing a patient and cannot answer non-urgent questions. If this is a medical emergency, contact [appropriate person]."
• Making staff think twice before interrupting you

2. Patient Portal Messages

When patients send you multi-paragraph messages with complex medical questions, increase friction by responding with: "Thank you for your questions. These are important and I'd love to discuss them with you. Please schedule an appointment."

You are not resourced to spend 5-10 minutes crafting thoughtful responses to detailed medical questions outside of visits. This isn't about not caring—it's about sustainable practice.

3. Difficult Patients Who Constantly Disagree

You're allowed to set boundaries with patients who:

• Never agree with your medical advice
• Can't communicate effectively with you
• Continue returning despite constant disagreement

Let them know they're welcome to seek other opinions or see different providers. You don't have to be everyone's doctor.

4. Non-Medical Tasks That Don't Light You Up

When asked to join committees, plan parties, or take on leadership roles you don't want: "I'd be happy to participate, but I'll need dedicated admin time blocked from my schedule to do this properly."

Make it more expensive (in time/resources) for them to voluntell you.

Where You Need to DIAL DOWN the Friction

1. Getting Your Notes Done

• Use AI scribes or human scribes
• Create dot phrases and templates for common documentation
• Write less, u

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD

Send us a text

How to return to self-care and self-kindness when you're struggling

What’s in This Episode

You're not failing at self-care; you're navigating something unprecedented. As we hit the end of July (yes, summer is flying by!), it's the perfect time to remember how to come back to taking care of yourself when you feel like you've been struggling.

Drawing from Dr. Julie Smith's book "Open When," this episode draws parallels between modern parenting and practicing medicine in 2025. Here's what you need to remember when you're feeling overwhelmed:

The Truth About What You're Facing

You are the first generation of physicians working with full knowledge of medicine's harm to your health. Just like parents today are the first to actively parent with awareness of emotional well-being, you're practicing medicine while explicitly knowing about:

• Physician burnout (which exploded as a topic in the last 10-15 years)
• The impossible math: The average primary care physician needs 26.7 hours per day to meet all patient needs
• The reality that your health suffers while you help others heal
• The systemic toxicity that comes with healthcare work

This knowledge didn't exist in previous generations of physicians. You're not supposed to have all the answers because there is no single right answer.

Why You Feel Disconnected (Even When Surrounded by People)

You're living in the most connected yet disconnected time in history. Being around people all day—patients, staff, colleagues—isn't the same as being emotionally connected to them. Your relational needs aren't being met just because you're never alone.

Start reconnecting with people you love first. Reach out to friends, family, your partner, your children—even your pets. Practice being present with them before trying to feel more connected at work.

The Boundary Reality Check

Boundaries are an inside job. They can't come from the outside, and they will bump up against external expectations. People expect you to be an autonomous robot without needs—but that has never served you well.

You cannot resolve everyone else's unrealistic expectations before you start taking care of yourself. That's a complete setup. You must set boundaries to continue doing the work you're called to do, because you cannot sustain this without rest and self-care.

The Ripple Effect of Self-Care

When you take care of yourself, you bring your best self to your patients and work environment. If you believe your mistakes cause lasting damage, you must also acknowledge that everything you do to prevent those mistakes brings lasting positives to your medical career.

Remember This When You're Struggling

• You're navigating challenges that didn't exist for previous generations of physicians
• You don't have perfect models for how to balance medicine with wellness
• Being around people isn't the same as being connected to them
• Boundaries will face external resistance—that doesn't make them wrong
• Taking c

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD

Send us a text

Recording live from the Washington coast - because sometimes the best content comes from breaking your own rules.

The Big Question That Changes Everything

Last week we talked about what's NOT possible - all those unrealistic expectations we carry. This week? We're flipping the script. What IS actually possible when you stop following rules that don't serve you?

Breaking the Rules (Starting with Mine)

I'm literally recording this on a beach with my kids digging in the sand behind me. Three years ago, I would have written a formal script and recorded in perfect conditions. Today? I'm embracing the messy, real, human version of showing up.

Because here's what I've learned: The rules we create for ourselves are often the biggest barriers to what's actually possible.

The Three Questions That Open Possibility

1. What rules have you created that aren't really necessary?
We've all internalized that "angry old white man" voice from medical training - the one that taught us to police ourselves into perfectionism. But some of those rules? They're not serving you.

Real talk: I used to dutifully fill out the "double book schedule" every day at my old job, choosing when I wanted to be overworked. Until I realized - I don't have to participate in planned incompetence. So I stopped writing anything down. Zero people commented. Zero consequences.

Your turn: What workplace "requirements" are actually just expectations you can quietly opt out of?

2. When you zoom out from your immediate circumstances, what's actually important about this moment in your life?

I could have canceled this family trip because we're navigating a health crisis with one of my kids. My crisis-mode brain said "no fun allowed." But when I zoomed out, I remembered: I want my kids to have good memories of this summer, even during challenging times.

The pandemic affected our kids when they were young. Now they're 10 and 13, fully conscious and creating lasting memories. That perspective shifted everything.

3. How will you use this information to take action?
Medicine will always operate like everything is a crisis. Healthcare will always want you sprinting. But your career is a marathon, not a sprint. You get to choose your pace.

What This Looks Like in Real Life

• Sometimes it's quietly not participating in systems that don't serve you
• Sometimes it's scheduling the "good enough" vacation instead of waiting for perfect
• Sometimes it's turning off the computer to be present with your family
• Sometimes it's choosing the hotel with the pool and free breakfast because that's what your kids love (even if you don't)

The Integration

What will you let go of to create space for what's important to you?

This isn't about adding more to your plate. It's about questioning the rules, gaining perspective on what matters, and making space for what you actually want.

If you're loving this podcast, please leave those gold stars and write a review - i

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD

Send us a text

When "Impossible" Becomes Your Superpower

You know that feeling when you're drowning in demands that feel completely unrealistic? When you're staring at a schedule that would require 26.7 hours in a 24-hour day? When you're being held responsible for things that are literally impossible for one person to handle?

We've all been there. And today, we're talking about a simple but powerful shift that can transform how you handle these overwhelming moments.

The Tone That Changes Everything

Picture this: You're facing an impossible situation - maybe it's covering a maternity leave with a year-long waitlist, or managing a patient panel that research shows requires more hours than exist in a day. Your first reaction might be: "It's IMPOSSIBLE!" - that frustrated, overwhelmed, reactive tone that makes your shoulders tense and your stress skyrocket.

But here's what we're going to do instead. We're going to shift that tone from reaction to response:

"It's not possible."

Feel the difference? Your shoulders settle. Your cortisol drops. You've moved from being a victim of circumstances to being someone who can clearly assess reality and make decisions from a place of calm.

The Four-Step Framework: Do, Delegate, Defer, Dump

Once you've settled into "it's not possible," you can move into problem-solving mode. Here's your framework:

DO

Keep this list small. What absolutely must be done by you, and only you? For our maternity leave example, this might be a quick scan of the schedule to identify patients who absolutely need to be seen during that time period.

DELEGATE

What can someone else handle? Yes, we know delegation isn't always easy in our systems, but remember - if you don't delegate it, and it truly can't be done by you, someone else will have to figure it out anyway. Make it their problem to solve, not yours to stress about.

DEFER (Creative Procrastination)

Some things are important but not urgent. Keep a list of these items so they don't take up mental energy, but give yourself permission to put them aside for now. You might come back to them later, or you might realize they weren't that important after all.

DUMP

Yes, you have permission to let some things go completely. That project you people-pleased your way into? That committee work that has no clear timeline or support? Sometimes you need to go back to someone and say, "I agreed to this, but I'm not able to do it anymore."

The Research That Validates Your Reality

Here's something crucial: A 2022 study in Medical Economics found that to properly care for a typical primary care panel, you'd need 26.7 hours per day. With a high-functioning team supporting you? That drops to about 9 hours per day.

Most of us don't have that high-functioning team. Most of us are working in systems that expect us to squeeze more out of skeleton crews while taking on more responsibilitie

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD

Send us a text

The Epic List You've Been Waiting For: What Women Physicians Are DONE Caring About

Welcome back to the revolution, my friends. This is Part 2 of our "We Do Not Care Club" series, and today we're sharing the crowdsourced, unfiltered, absolutely brilliant list of things that women physicians are officially done caring about.

But first, let's give proper credit where it's due:

This entire movement exists because of Melani Sanders (@justbeingmelani) - an African-American content creator who courageously started sharing her perimenopause experience from a Whole Foods parking lot. She felt like a hot mess and decided she wasn't going to care about it anymore. That single moment of authenticity has created a viral movement with over a million followers and has been featured in the New York Times and on Katie Couric's platform.

Melani gave women permission to speak up about experiences we've been silent about for far too long. This is her movement, and we're honored to be part of it.

Why This Matters for Women Physicians

We are a special group. We care for others professionally, but we're also women navigating our own health transitions in a system that expects us to be superhuman. We've been socialized to:

• Care that our appearance is 100% professional
• Never show emotions (while somehow conveying empathy)
• Be team players who give 110% but never be "too loud"
• Micromanage our appearance more than our male colleagues
• Put everyone else first, always

The result? We're exhausted from caring about the wrong things.

The Epic List: What We Do NOT Care About Anymore

Note: This list came directly from women physicians who responded to my call. It's unorganized on purpose - because perimenopause isn't organized, and we're giving ourselves permission to say "this is good enough."

The Medical System BS We're Done With:

• Online wellness modules (seriously, stop)
• C-suite leadership telling us to be more "resilient" (we hate that word)
• Insurance formularies and their secrecy
• Efficiency training and metrics (we're just trying to get through the day)
• Corporate medicine profitability
• Academic titles earned by sacrificing mental health
• Executives losing money because we did the right thing for patients

Patient Nonsense We're Over:

• "What you saw on TikTok" (vinegar isn't going to help here)
• How happy people look in drug commercials (you don't have rheumatoid arthritis)
• The internet telling you that you have ADHD (it's probably perimenopause)
• How "explosive" your diarrhea was (that doesn't help me help you)
• College roommate's third cousin's reaction to sertraline (it's still a good choice)
• Kardashians getting full-body MRIs

Life Stuff We're Liberated From:

• Wearing bras (special shoutout to the contributor who said "I only have one nipple after canc

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD

Send us a text

What if you could stop wasting your precious brain energy on things that don't deserve it?

Welcome to a very special edition of Ending Physician Overwhelm, where we're diving deep into the revolutionary concept of the "We Do Not Care Club" – specifically designed for perimenopausal women physicians who are DONE with burning themselves out for a system that doesn't value them.

Shoutout to Melani Sanders (@justbeingmelani) for creating this life-changing movement that's resonating with millions of women!

The Truth Bomb You Need to Hear

We care. We care A LOT. But here's what's killing us: we've been pressured and scared into caring about things that are literally destroying our well-being, our families, and our ability to practice medicine the way we know it should be practiced.

It's time to stop. It's time to reclaim your power. It's time to join the club.

The 3 Permission Slips You Need Right Now

🔹 Permission Slip #1: You Are NOT Expendable or Replaceable

We do not care about the lie that you're just another cog in the medical machine.

The truth? You are irreplaceable. Your expertise, your experience, your special sauce of care – that cannot be replicated. Yes, they might hire someone else, but they will never replace YOU.

Stop living in fear. Stop working yourself to the bone hoping to "earn" respect that should already be yours. The finish line where you'll finally be valued? It doesn't exist, and that's not your fault.

What would happen if every woman physician walked out tomorrow? The system would collapse. Because we provide safer care, safer surgeries, better patient outcomes. We are the backbone of medicine.

🔹 Permission Slip #2: Your Human Needs Actually Matter

We do not care that the system expects you to work like a robot.

You need food. You need bathroom breaks. You need REAL time off (not vacation days spent getting colonoscopies). You need adequate maternity leave. You need to be able to call in sick without guilt.

The pushback you'll get when you start taking care of yourself? That's their problem, not yours. You cannot pour from an empty cup, and eventually, if you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to show up for anyone.

🔹 Permission Slip #3: Your Critical Thinking Skills Are Your Superpower

We do not care if using your brain makes leadership uncomfortable.

You were trained to think critically, to question, to evaluate. But somehow, when you use these skills to challenge policies or advocate for better patient care, suddenly you're "not a team player."

This is medicine's biggest contradiction: they pay you to think, then punish you for thinking.

Your Mission for Part 2

I want to hear from YOU. What are the things you do not care about anymore? Send me:

• Instagram message: @MeganMeloMD
• Email: [email protected]

Let's build our collective list for Part 2 (dropping July 8th)!

One Thing I'll Share Right Now

I do NOT care if your "normal"

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD

Send us a text

What You'll Learn

Life doesn't pause for your perfect plans. Whether it's a scary diagnosis, staffing changes, or family emergencies, curveballs are coming. But here's what we don't talk about enough: how to navigate these storms with self-compassion instead of burning yourself out trying to hustle through everything.

In this episode, we're diving deep into four powerful strategies that will help you maintain your sanity when everything feels like it's falling apart.

The Reality Check We All Need

As physicians and high achievers, we're masters at rallying our resources and throwing 120% into whatever crisis hits us. But that unsustainable hustle? It's not always helping us. The real challenge is learning to sit in the discomfort of knowing there might not be a whirlwind of actions that will magically fix everything.

Think about navigating a cancer diagnosis - yours or a loved one's. You know the steps that need to happen, you understand the system, but you have to sit in the uncomfortable slowness of how care actually unfolds. You can't hustle your way through waiting for biopsy results or treatment plans.

Four Game-Changing Strategies

1. Recognize Your Hustle Pattern (And When It Doesn't Serve You)
We need to acknowledge that yes, we're incredible at problem-solving and taking action. But some problems have to unfold over time. They can't be managed with our usual "throw everything at it" approach.

The work: Sit in the discomfort of not being able to fix everything immediately. Breathe through it. This is part of being human.

2. Know Your Thought Loops (And Have Compassionate Responses Ready)
During stress, your brain falls into familiar patterns. Maybe it's "I'm trapped" or "I don't know what to do" or "I'm not good enough." These thoughts will spin endlessly if you let them.

The breakthrough: You don't have to stop having these thoughts to make progress. The goal is recognizing the pattern and responding with compassion. When that familiar thought loop starts, pause and offer yourself a gentler alternative: "I'm not stuck - I'm choosing to be here for my family."

3. Allow Yourself Stress Responses (Without Judgment)
We all have them. Maybe it's shopping (hello, perfectly stocked pantry), scrolling social media, or reaching for that extra glass of wine. Some stress responses are relatively harmless, others cross into potentially harmful territory.

The balance: It's okay to scratch the itch sometimes, as long as you're not causing harm to yourself or others. But also recognize that these responses aren't actually addressing the underlying emotion. Ask yourself: "What do I really need here? What am I really seeking?"

A note on alcohol: If you find yourself turning to wine or other alcohol to soothe your nervous system, please consider whether this is tiptoeing into harmful territory. I'm not your mom, but as an obesity medicine physician, I see this pattern slip into problems more often than we'd like to admit.

4. Push the Easy Button (Seriously)
How can you make things easier for your future se

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD

Send us a text

Stop Playing Around and Start Making AI Work FOR You

If you're still on the fence about AI tools, or you've tried them and felt frustrated, this episode is for you. We're talking about how to actually use these tools to make your life easier—not add another complicated task to your already overwhelming day.

What We Talk About

• The three non-negotiable rules for using AI tools effectively (and why thinking of AI as your employee changes everything)
• How I went from trial-and-error with multiple AI scribes to finding one that actually works for my complex primary care visits
• The letter-writing hack that saves me hours of Googling templates
• Why I let AI write my show notes, emails, and blog posts (and why that's not cheating—it's smart)
• How to create your own AI coach that asks you the right questions when you're stuck
• Real examples: from risk management letters to policy manuals to patient handouts

The Three Rules That Change Everything

Rule #1: Give Clear Instructions Just like with human employees, vague directions get you garbage results. Be specific about what you want and how you want it delivered.

Rule #2: Practice Before Going Live Don't push record on that AI scribe without knowing how it works. Test everything first—you'll save yourself from recreating notes from scratch.

Rule #3: Remember You're the Boss This technology exists to serve you, not the other way around. If it's creating more work instead of less, you need to retrain it or find a better tool.

Your Homework

Pick ONE area where you're spending time on tasks that don't require your medical expertise. Could AI help you write that insurance authorization letter? Create patient handouts? Draft professional correspondence?

Start there. Give it clear instructions. See what happens.

The Bottom Line

AI tools are here to stay, and they can genuinely make your life easier—but only if you approach them with the right mindset. You deserve help that actually helps. You deserve tools that work for you, not against you.

Remember: You're not being lazy by using these tools. You're being strategic about where you spend your precious time and energy.

Let's Connect

Need more support? Schedule a coaching consultation at https://calendly.com/healthierforgood/coaching-discovery-call

Connect with us:

• Website: healthierforgood.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @meganmelomd

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD

Send us a text

Recorded from the car on a Monday morning because sometimes life doesn't wait for perfect circumstances - and that's exactly the point.

When Crisis Hits Close to Home

This is a different kind of episode. Raw, real, and recorded in the midst of what I'm calling a "semi-urgent medical crisis" in my family. You know the kind - not a code blue emergency, but the agonizing wait for test results, appointments, and answers that consume your thoughts and rearrange your entire world.

We spend so much time being on the other side of these moments as physicians. But sometimes, we're the ones sitting in the waiting room, holding our breath, and trying to navigate the impossible balance of being both caregiver and professional.

If you've ever faced a breast cancer diagnosis, fertility struggles, or watched a loved one go through a medical crisis while trying to hold your own life together, this episode is for you.

10 Ways I'm Getting Through (And You Can Too)

1. Notice Yourself and Your Needs
You can't pour from an empty cup. Even when this isn't your medical crisis, you're still a crucial part of the equation. Ask yourself moment by moment: What do I need right now to show up for what matters most?

2. Continue Your Routines with Self-Compassion
The basics still matter - maybe even more now. I'm still trying to get to bed on time, wake up for exercise, and eat regularly. These routines might look different during crisis, but they're your anchor. Don't abandon what keeps you grounded.

3. Let People Know What You Need
Here's the hard truth: I am less reliable and dependable to everyone else right now, and that's okay. I'm canceling plans, rescheduling patients, and making different choices. Being upfront about this isn't failure - it's honesty about where your energy needs to go.

4. Accept What's True AND Allow Moments of Good
You can simultaneously acknowledge that this is incredibly difficult while also letting in moments of joy, silliness, and playfulness when they appear. This isn't about toxic positivity - it's about not shutting yourself off from the full human experience.

5. Practice Creative Procrastination
Those big projects and dreams you've been planning? It's okay to put them on hold. This isn't giving up - it's being strategic about your focus. Future plans can wait when family needs you now.

6. Get Crystal Clear on Your Values
We say family is our top priority, but are we living like it? When crisis hits, you get clarity fast about what actually matters. Use this clarity to make decisions moment by moment, even when it means inconveniencing others.

7. Know Who's on Your Team
Some people in your life are good to bring into the loop during tough times. Others, despite being good people, are not equipped to help in crisis. This is boundaries work in action. Choose wisely who gets access to your vulnerable moments.

8. Prepare for Growth
You didn't choose this lesson, but here it is anyway. There are things for you to learn and ways for you to grow in this space

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD

Send us a text

Welcome to another edition of Ending Physician Overwhelm - this time recorded from the car because life happens, and we roll with it.

The Question That Changes Everything

When we talk about cutting back on work or reducing FTE, we often focus on what we want less of. But here's what we miss: What do we actually want MORE of?

This episode dives deep into a conversation I had with a coaching client who was looking to reconfigure her work schedule. We weren't just trying to work less for the sake of working less - we were being intentional about creating space for what truly matters.

The Laundry Trap (And Why We're Not Cutting FTE for More Chores)

Let's be crystal clear: We are not cutting our physician FTE in order to do more laundry.

Yes, those piles of laundry create distress. Yes, the house needs attention. But if you find yourself cutting hours only to spend that precious time doing tasks that breed resentment and frustration, you've missed the point entirely.

Three Areas Where You Need to Ask This Question

1. At Work: What Professional Boundaries Have Shifted?

That evening clinic you agreed to when you first started? The complex procedures you took on to save patients a referral? The schedule flexibility you once had that no longer serves your current life phase?

Just because you were willing to do something before doesn't mean you're wrong to say no now.

Your life has changed. Maybe you have aging parents, young children, or different priorities. There's nothing wrong with recognizing that what worked then doesn't work now.

2. At Home: Where Are You Trading Time for the Wrong Things?

If you have more money than time available, why are you still doing your own laundry, cleaning, and yard work?

Your kids and partner need to learn life skills anyway. Get the humans in your house contributing, or pay someone else to handle what doesn't bring you joy.

3. In Relationships: What Are You No Longer Willing to Tolerate?

This applies everywhere - with patients, family, colleagues, and friends. Maybe you used to let visits run long, take on cases outside your expertise, or accommodate behaviors that drain your energy.

You get to change your mind about what you'll accept.

The Permission You've Been Waiting For

You don't need to justify why something that was okay before isn't okay now. Evidence changes. Life circumstances change. Sometimes you just wake up and realize you need better boundaries because you're drowning.

All of these reasons are valid.

Your Action Steps

1. Get clear on your values and goals - What do you actually want more of in your life?
2. Identify your non-negotiables - What are you willing to be flexible on, and what absolutely isn't up for discussion?
3. Practice the uncomfortable conversations - Whether it's asking for schedule changes at work or setting boundaries at home.
4. Remember: Boundaries aren't selfish - They're necessary for sustainability and showing u

Support the show

To learn more about my coaching practice and group offerings, head over to www.healthierforgood.com. I help Physicians and Allied Health Professional women to let go of toxic perfectionist and people-pleasing habits that leave them frustrated and exhausted. If you are ready to learn skills that help you set boundaries and prioritize yourself, without becoming a cynical a-hole, come work with me.

Want to contact me directly?
Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Instagram!
@MeganMeloMD