I saw a patient this week with a success story.

P comes in a couple of months ago distraught. Miserable. New situation at work and P is the rock, the anchor, the glue that holds things together, the stability of the operation. P does not want to quit but the shift in the situation makes P miserable. P's body is tense, fired up, all adrenalin, inflammed.

We do labs and talk. The labs are normal.

We talked and in the context of P's life. P has been a rock for many many people for many many years. Since childhood. We look at the trajectory. I say that I think P's body is sick of being a rock.

I draw three circles: the first is a pie chart of what P's life looks like now. The second is a pie chart of what P wants life to look like.... the third is to wait for a few days. What does P's body want?

P's body longs to do nothing. Just sit.

Do that, I say.

I have to work, says P.

I write a letter that my medical orders are that P is to work remotely for half the day. The work situation throws some sort of fit. P endures. P starts to step back from being a rock.

P comes in this week and took two weeks off over the holidays. P was sitting with a favorite hobby, with the cat and the dog. "I realize I am happy. And suddenly I feel a wave as if I am calming down. As if everything is at a new baseline. I am happy."

I do the happy dance.

"I can't maintain it every moment. But I can back into it. And I am less likely to jump into things that I don't need to take care of."

I write to the work situation. No further remote work.

And happy dance.

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