Ending Physician Overwhelm
I'm Megan Melo, board-certified Family and Obesity Medicine Physician and Physician Coach. In this podcast we talk about the many ways that burnout shows up in our lives, and what we can do about it. I'm on a mission to help Physicians take steps towards to heal burnout by unlearning the habits of perfectionism, people-pleasing and limiting beliefs so that we can lead healthier, happier lives. The healthcare system is broken; but you don't have to wait until it's fixed to feel better. I'm here to help. Thank you for tuning in! Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review. Until next time, take care. Connect with me: Website: www.healthierforgood.com Instagram: @MeganMeloMD Email: megan@healthierforgood.com Bookshop.org Book Shop: https://bookshop.org/shop/meganmelo
Episodes
(Trigger Warning: This episode does briefly reference physician suicide)
Have you ever looked up and realized you've slid back into a pattern you thought you'd left behind, and immediately wondered what is wrong with you? That moment of recognition, the one where you feel like you've undone all your progress, is exactly what we're digging into today.
One of my clients came to a session recently carrying something heav...
How many times have you apologized today? Not for something you actually did wrong. Just for existing, taking up space, having needs, being human?
This episode is about that. We're going through 10 specific things that women physicians have been socialized to apologize for, and we are done. Not because we're going to become difficult or stop caring, but because the apologizing is costing us, and it's not serving anyo...
You did the hard part last week. You sat with the feelings, let the thoughts tumble out, and didn't immediately sprint toward a job board. Good. Now we figure out what's actually next.
Part 2 is where we get practical, but not in the way medicine trained us to be practical. We're not just dusting off the CV and hitting LinkedIn. We're doing something harder and more useful: getting clear on what we actually want befo...
Raise your hand if you or someone you know has been laid off. Not fired. Laid off. It's happening more and more, and if you've been watching what's going on in healthcare right now, it probably doesn't surprise you. What might surprise you is how complicated it feels, even when part of you is relieved.
In this episode, we dig into something that doesn't get talked about enough: the emotional experience of being let g...
Let's talk about the hassle factor, and why that term doesn't even begin to cover what we're actually dealing with.
I'm coming into this episode a little fired up, and honestly, that's the point. In the last two weeks, I've been flooded with prior authorization requests for patients on GLP-1 medications. Patients who already have approval. Patients we know don't have coverage and have been paying cash. Patients whose...
Whole. Capable. Perfect. Just as you are.
Go ahead and sit with that for a second. Because if you're anything like most of us in medicine, those three words probably don't come naturally when you think about yourself. We weren't trained that way. We were trained to find what's wrong, what's missing, what needs to be corrected. And that lens? It doesn't always stay at work.
In this episode, we're trying something on to...
You pull into the driveway after a full day. Patients, staff, meetings, inbox, all of it. You open the door and immediately there are more people who need something from you. And you have nothing left.
If you have ever sat in your car in the driveway just a little longer than you needed to, you are not broken. You are not someone who doesn't love the people waiting for you inside. You are someone who has been on stag...
Have you ever had something completely figured out — only to find yourself right back at square one a little while later? That's not failure. That's life moving through seasons. And today, we're going to talk about how to navigate those transitions with a lot more grace and a lot less self-judgment.
I open this episode sharing a conversation I had with Sarah Smith, the Charting Champion Coach, someone who...
What if one sentence could pull you out of a spiral? What if a five-second pause could change the entire tone of your day?
In this episode, I'm sharing three simple tools I actually use — the ones that have quietly transformed how I move through hard moments, difficult patients, chaotic travel, and the everyday grind of being a physician. No fluff. No toxic positivity. Just practical, repeatable ways to speak t...
You know that feeling when you're in the middle of something completely outside your comfort zone and you realize — wait, I'm actually handling this? That's exactly where I'm recording from today: a hotel room in Osaka, Japan, chaperoning my son's eighth-grade school trip with a group of middle schoolers, their parents, and approximately infinite drama.
And instead of talking about the middle school gossip (tho...
Has your AI scribe ever produced garbage notes for days on end? Has Epic ever crashed mid-clinic and sent you into a spiral? And did a little voice in your head whisper, "Maybe I shouldn't have been relying on that in the first place"?
Yeah. We need to talk about that voice.
In this episode, we're getting honest about our relationship with the tools we use — technology, AI scribes, in-person scribes, and the sys...
Let's be honest — have you ever fantasized about calling in sick? Not because you're actually sick, but because it feels like the only way to justify taking a break? Maybe you picture finally cleaning out that closet, taking a nap in the middle of the day, or just... breathing. If that fantasy has ever crossed your mind, this episode is for you.
Because here's the thing: most of us are terrible at sick days &md...
What's your number one work fantasy?
For so many of us, it's walking out the door and never looking back. But what does it actually look like to quit — not in the dramatic, table-flipping way we imagine, but in the real, messy, meaningful way? This week, we're getting into it, because it's my five-year quitversary, and I'm taking you behind the scenes of how I left the job I thought I always wanted.
In this epis...
There's a kind of tired that drains you to the bone — and then there's a kind of tired that feels almost like a gift.
In this episode, I'm coming to you fresh off a red-eye from our twice-yearly EntreMD Business School conference, messy hair and all. I'm exhausted. And I'm more energized than I've been in a long time. And I want to talk about what it means that both of those things can be true at the same time ...
Sometimes you feel off… but you can’t quite name why.
You’re tired.
Maybe a little cranky.
Maybe a little stuck.
And the instinct is often to change something big.
Quit the job.
Overhaul your schedule.
Throw everything out and start over.
But what if the real question isn’t what should I change?
What if the better question is:
What do I actually need right now?
Because not every moment ...
What happens when you get an unexpected pocket of free time?
Be honest.
Do you rest?
Or does your brain immediately start scanning for something productive to do?
Laundry.
Inbox.
Charts.
Research.
That Spanish program you’ve been meaning to start.
If you’re a woman physician, chances are your brain does not tolerate white space very well.
In this episode, we unpack why.
Because this isn’t ...
How many times have you held your own happiness hostage?
“I’ll feel better when my notes are closed.”
“I can rest when the work is done.”
“I’ll finally feel confident when I’m an attending.”
We’ve all done it. We tie positive emotions to achievement and convince ourselves that relief, joy, or rest are rewards we earn later.
But here’s t...
Raise your hand if the last couple of weeks have felt… heavy.
Not just busy. Not just frustrating.
Heavy.
As more information comes out about the Epstein files and the physicians connected to them, many of us are noticing something uncomfortable stirring beneath the surface. And today, we’re naming it.
Vicarious shame.
Not guilt. Not embarrassment. Not even anger—though that may be there too.
Sh...
You listen.
You nod.
You try to apply what you’re learning.
And still—something isn’t quite moving.
If that’s you, pause with me for a moment, because here’s the truth we don’t say out loud enough:
You are not doing anything wrong.
Most of what you’re trying to change—burnout, boundaries, habits, presence, sustainability—was never meant to be done in isolation....
Without overthinking it (yes, I know—that’s a tall order), I asked you to name one difficult emotion you’ve felt in the last few days. Anger. Frustration. Disgust. Resentment.
If your immediate instinct was to judge yourself for it—or to shove it down and keep functioning—this episode is for you.
As women physicians, we’ve been trained to override our internal signals. Push through....
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