Nothing in your life is 100% certain. Not your job. Not your health. Not your relationships. Not your plans for next week. You know this. You’ve always known this. But you spend an enormous amount of energy pretending it’s not true. My work as a GP puts me face to face with uncertainty every single…
We talked about failure in the last chapter, this lesson is about the other F word and that is Fear. Fear is that primitive, hardwired drive that’s been keeping humans alive since before we had language to describe it. Fear is one of the most powerful emotions you have. It sharpens your senses, floods your…
“Try to pose for yourself this task, not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.” Dostoevsky wrote that in 1863, and whether it be polar bears or purple elephants, often when we don’t want to think of something the reverse happens and…
Have you ever asked yourself if your stress is a real thing? I’ve been a doctor for over 30 years, and I’ve never seen stress appear on a blood test or under a microscope because it has no physical form. You can’t weigh it, scan it, or generally prescribe something to take it away. Stress…
This lesson is all about the concept of boundaries in your life; on one hand, they are meant to be pushed, on the other, they create a place of safety within their walls. I see a lot of self-help literature that tells you, in no uncertain terms, to live a life without limits, to tread…
I’m Generation X, but I was spending too long at work to have kids early enough for them to be Millennials. My kids, however, belong to Generation Z. Generation Z were born after the turn of the century. They’re post-9/11. They’ll inherit debt from the financial crisis. They’ll face global warming, and the transition from…
You’ve probably noticed something’s changed in the past decade or so. Maybe you’ve felt it at work, where you’re suddenly walking on eggshells around certain topics. Maybe you’ve seen it in your kids’ schools, where the curriculum can also focus on identity and the oppression of certain views rather than just learning. Maybe you’ve watched…