The Importance of Taking Frequent Breaks with Dr. Mary Leung

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Come join me May 1st through the sixth so that you can rest rediscover your strengths, reconnect with yourself and those physicians like you who are ready to leave work at work. And re-energize. This is the invitation for you to make 2023 your year. Join me in Costa Rica in this really amazing, non-judgmental, intimate decision community.

I am gonna show you how to rest and how to recharge. Let's transform your brain. So that you can start to dream the life that you always wanted this year in 2023. I can't wait to learn all about what kind of year you're gonna have after this conference. Take care. Hello, hello. Welcome to Beyond ADHD, a Physician's Perspective.

I am Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh. I'm a family medicine physician practicing in rural Texas. I used to be hindered by my adhd, but I now. See it as a gift that helps me show up as a person. I was always meant to be both in my work and in a personal life. In the past two years, I've come to realize that unlearning some of my beliefs and some of my habits were just as important as learning the.

Hello. Hello. How are we doing today? I am so excited to have a dear friend with me, Dr. Mary Leung, and she is in New York, but. She is actually from Hong Kong and I am so excited to talk to her today. She's a, he heon physician who is actually helping other physicians start to live the life of their dreams.

So She herself is gonna tell us her journey, but she realized that charting was not the thing to do every day, all the time, . And so we are gonna have a conversation on why it is important to realize that it, you know, you can take breaks, you can reset, you can do things your way. And whether you have a D H D or.

You can still live the life of your dreams. And she's here to share her story and to share how she's now helping others do the same.

Dr. Mary Leung: Wow. Thank you for the amazing introduction. Time . Anytime.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Anytime, .

Dr. Mary Leung: All right. So I guess a little bit about myself. Yes. I grew up in Hong Kong and both. Parents of physicians, I mean, they're retired now.

But when I was growing up they would they, they really loved their career and what, what they, what they were doing. And sometimes they would talk about, Patients like what they would do with each other during dinnertime. So for me it was a natural exposure to medicine and being a doctor and I thought, you know, grow, growing up I was always taught to always help people, you know, whatever we can do to help, help.

And so it was just natural for me to to say, Hey you know what? I wanted to be a doctor too, just to help. And my parents never forced me into medicine. And my other siblings, they're not in medicine at all. And so I think this medical path was just a natural thing for me. I think it suits my personality too,

So so then fast forward to. 12th grade that my parents decided to send me to the United States to study. And that was 12th grade and of course, senior year in high school, it was kind of a cultural shock. And I went from not speaking English outside of English class at school to speaking English all the time.

And I remember I had to translate, you know, in my head from Cantonese to English before I, I would speak, you know, sentences and And I was taking all these advanced courses, American history, that I didn't know much about and applying to colleges all at the same time. So it was and of course living away from home.

So all these things came together. And I think even though it was quite a different and stressful year, it really helped. Who I am and it really make me grow a lot as a person.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: So, Mary, tell me during that time, did you decide which boarding school you wanted to go to or like how did you arrive which one you were coming in the US.

Dr. Mary Leung: Oh yeah, so I am I actually applied, so it was kind of like a college entrance process and so how I chose was I actually only applied to two boarding schools. And they're both in the, you know, northeast region new England region. And only because a couple of my friends went to those schools already.

So I was like, well, you know, I wanted to be with them. So I just applied to two. And I ex thankfully, actually, Accepted by both of them, and I just chose the one that my good friends were in . So

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Yeah. And that brings up a good point, right? Like that we sometimes become brave or, because, I mean, that's bravery and courageous to like uproot yourselves, especially your senior year when you're like, this is supposed to be the cheer year.

I'm just gonna write it out and like finish and then move on. Right? But. Yeah, you took a, a flinch, but then you did it with the knowing that I'm gonna go with my friends. Right. So like, It's always so amazing how, what we're a