Feel great

First day back from Houston. Started surgery today but not on call so got out at 9am. For some reason I feel really good today. Not good in a manic sort of way like excited or on edge but in a really well balanced and positive way. Just totally positive, optimistic, energetic. Even thinking of things that are “downers”, missing Jane, worries about my board scores, loans, etc seem to roll off. Not sure why but definitely worth investigating since things just seem really “up” and would be great to keep it going!

I think I started feeling good after the first three days of vacation when I had to deal with a frustrating transaction at the Chinese embassy.  I finally got on a treadmill on Thursday and Friday of last week which felt really good and gave me some physical energy. I finally finished this frustrating Chinese transaction on Friday just in time to go out with Jane who set up this nice dinner with some friends from Tuck and then drinks with her friends from residency. Then the next day she had the day off, we slept in, went to eat some great dim sum (really good actually) and then went to the Houston Zoo and watched Harry Potter then went home and made some spam musubi.

Had a good plane ride on the way home where I got some reading in Economist and Innovators Prescription by Clay Christensen, thought of some new ideas for my research project, got picked up by my roommate and some other co-interns then had a nice dinner with my roommate at a local hangout.

Looking at the above there is nothing really that strikes me as mindblowing. Perhaps its just feeling good about my mind and body with some physical activity and endorphins kicking in as well as mental stimulation with my research project. I guess one other note is that I finally watched my first episode of Dr. Oz and felt like it was really inspiring to see a legitimate doctor really translating concepts and evidence based medicine into lay language in a really expert way and then tackling some tough issues around behavior change such as weight reduction, preventative health etc. Also seeing him as an example of someone who is centered who can be involved in multiple things (practicing CT surgeon, academic researcher, administrator, TV celebrity, dad) and still have time to sleep 7-7.5hrs a night was quite inspiring.

Once again no solutions, we are complicated beings, but good once again to document happiness. One of these days I will crack the code to what makes me happy!